Friday, June 27, 2008

Poetry Friday!



Welcome to Poetry Friday! It's my first time hosting, but I think after some initial scufflawing in the sandbox, Mr. Linky and I are now friends...

So... first some poetry and then the round-up!

There's this story that says during the Ming Dynasty, the scholar-official Zhao Mengfu wanted to take a concubine and wrote a poem to gauge his wife's reaction:

I'm a scholar-official
and you are the official wife.
Haven't you ever heard that scholar-official Wang had Peach Leaf and Peach Root,
Scholar-official Su had Morning Clouds and Evening Clouds?
Even if I marry a few beauties from Wu and Yue--it wouldn't be too much
since you're already over forty.
You'll still control Spring in the Jade Hall.

Zhao's wife, Guan Daosheng, wrote this poem in response:

You and I
have too much passion.
Where the passion is, is hot like fire
I knead a piece of clay into a you
and a me
then smash them
and mix them with water.
Again I knead it into a you
then a me.
There is you in my clay,
and me in your clay.
I'll share your quilt while we live
and your coffin after death.

He didn't take a concubine.

Both poems are from The Anchor Book of Chinese Poetry: From Ancient to Contemporary, The Full 3000-Year Tradition ed. Tony Barnstone and Chou Ping

Leave your Poetry Friday links below!

28 comments:

Sherry said...

Thanks for hostessing. I hope you get lots of participation. I'll be back to check it out tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for hosting! I'm in with Anne Sexton and a story about our local wildlife...

Kelly said...

Love the poems, Jennie. They made me laugh :)

I'm in with an original this week:

http://kidslitinformation.blogspot.com/2008/06/poetry-friday-original-on-reading-anna.html

And I'll take care of that sponsorship today, I promise! Good luck reading.

web said...

Way to host! You're a braver woman than I. :-)

Michele said...

I'm in - with a celebration of Laurie Lee...

Andromeda Jazmon said...

Guan Daosheng was a clever woman, a noble poet and a great wife. I am glad Zhao Mengfu recognized that in time! Excellent selection today. Thanks for rounding up poetry!

Sara said...

That poet-scholar had met his match, I believe. In every way.

I'm in with found poetry from a library patron handbook. What? You don't read them? :)

tanita✿davis said...

Whoa!
I guess he DIDN'T take a concubine. There was a bit of violence in that clay analogy... Sure, she'd share his coffin at death, but if he added someone else to the clay? He might see the coffin sooner.

Go, Guan.

I'm in with a poem about music and rest, by Elizabeth Bishop.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic poems! Reading them was a nice way to start the morning...

I'm in with a review of Castles, Caves and Honeycombs.

jama said...

Love those poems! Today I'm singing those lazy day blues with Elizabeth Alexander. Thanks for hosting!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for hosting, Jennie. I'm in with 15 Words or Less poems--anyone can stop by and give it a try!

I'm leaving very shortly for the w/e, but can't wait to read today's PF posts on Monday!

Karen Edmisten said...

Thanks for hosting. Love your choices. Guan knew how to make her point ... I love the image of the mixed, inseparable clays.

I'm in this week, writing in the margins of a Billy Collins poem.

Tricia said...

Hi Jennie,
I'm in today with Carl Sandburg. Thanks so much for rounding us up!
Tricia

MotherReader said...

Wishing I was at ALA, but leaving a summer poem instead.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for hosting today! I posted a short blast from the past: a found poem (I think) from the Electric Company.

david elzey said...

Is that talk of coffins a threat? Anyway, thanks for that, and for hosting. I'm acting all juvenile with this week's schoolyard parodies.

Anonymous said...

What a great story and poems -- fascinating, funny, and immensely satisfying. :-)

Anonymous said...

Wow - what a lovely pair of poems to share. I loved the passion in the wife's poem; no wonder he didn't take a concubine.

eisha said...

Dang, the wife's poem is excellent. Thanks for sharing - the story behind them is almost as good as the poems.

7-Imp is in with "Wild nights" by Emily Dickinson.

Sarah Reinhard said...

Thanks for hosting! Fabulous job, and what a selection. :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks for being this week's host. I'm in with A Night Thought by William Wordsworth at Bildungsroman.

Jim Danielson said...

Jennie,
Thanks for hostin and sharing!

Jim D

Holly said...

Heh heh. Great pair of poems.

I chose an old favorite Naomi Shihab Nye (love her! love her!) poem for today.

Renee said...

Great story. Great poems. I'm no poet, but I'm jumping in with an original this week.

Laurel said...

I forgot it was FRIDAY!

Thanks for the roundup!!

I'm in with a literacy poem!

Becky said...

Thanks for hosting, by the way, I did forget to mention it earlier.

I didn't know you twittered! I've just started following you :)

Jennie said...

Becky-- I actually just started twittering last night, so you're not at all behind the times. :)

Marcie Flinchum Atkins said...

I'm in with Twelve Rounds to Glory, biography in verse.