A Song about Regrets

 For your listening pleasure (maybe!), a song about regrets, music and recording by Roger Illsley, lyrics by Hans Ostrom (who he?) and Roger Illsley:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqbzQlMw3XU

Poem by Borges

 "I Ask Myself," better known as "Poem Written in a Copy of Beowulf," by Jorge Luis Borges--reading and video:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kW6wVeG6Uj8

"Meeting Poets," by Eunice de Souza

de Souza was a well known Indian poet, fiction writer, and professor who taught at Xavier University in India. She earned an M.A. from Marquette University and a Ph.D. from the University of Mumbai. This is a wry little poem. 

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENcQ7YFEYNE

"Words," by Kamala Das

A good poem from the renowned Indian poet, Kamala Das, whose family name was Surayya. Reading/video, short:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Te64fmXRimQ

From a Diary of the Plague Year (17)

I'm not supposed to leave the house.

So while you're out,

could you pick up one

of the 49 copies of the Gutenberg Bible?

(It can be a partial copy.)

Thanks. Also, I need a feather

from the small golden-crowned

manakin from the Amazon rain forest.

(It's a hybrid bird.) If you have

time, you might bring  back

the original arrangement 

for Duke Ellington's "Warm Valley."

And some bread and apples.

I'll be here all day! So

take your time. 

hans ostrom 2020

New Stuff

my favorite river

kept running from me

as if I were a drought.

my favorite birds

migrate with the rest

and send impostors back

the next year.

yes, and my favorite hammer

became a pacifist,

refuses to clobber nails.

also, I forgot where my

favorite tree stands in

the forest. that's embarrassing

and hurtful to the tree,

I'm sure. I need some new stuff

to admire.

hans ostrom 2020

"Tawny," by Carl Sandburg

Reading/video of a very short poem by Carl Sandburg concerning a color category, a season, and a memory of a face. From his book Smoke and Steel (1922).

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wc-7M088exA

"Gratitude to Old Teachers," by Robert Bly

A poem in blank verse--not typical of Bly. But it has his characteristic surrealism, offering a striking comparison, to say the least, all in the context of walking across a frozen lake, no doubt in Minnesota. Bly's book about surrealistic poetry, Leaping Poetry, is terrific. 

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PngPw5xK3Fs

One by Goethe: "I Think of You"

A 50-second reading/video of "I Think of You," by one of the titans of German literature, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe:

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ8hdEn40fw

"Loving Some is a Heavy Cross," by Boris Pasternak

A poem about how easy, in this case, it is to live with someone whom you love. From the online book, From the Ends to the Beginning: A Bilingual Anthology of Poetry, russianpoetry.net. It goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, Pasternak was the author of Doctor Zhivago, led eventually to one of my very favorite films, directed by David Lean.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8oaaP68i4s

One Way or Another

We rode the horses
to the top of the hill
where the blond dry grass
shakes in breezes.

We looked down
on the town,
its forever shabbiness,
everyone in it
exhausted and resentful.

We're just visitors here
now. Our cheer
isn't appreciated.
No one here cares
about our lives elsewhere,
and we can't say
why they should.

We thought of letting
the horses run free.
But they live in the town
too. We rode them
back, wiped and combed
them, shoveled out
their stalls, fed and watered
them. I slipped them
the last of the carrots,
bright orange like stove
fires.

We got in the car
and drove out of town,
maybe for the last time,
maybe not. The thing is,
we don't care, one way
or another.


hans ostrom 2020

"Leaving a Task Undone," by Fernando Pessoa

A droll poem dedicated to all responsible people and aspiring drop-outs. The Portuguese writer Pessoa (1888-1935) was the author of The Book of Disquiet, one of the most original and important Modernist books. Video is about a minute.

link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzca5avQZCc

"be kind," by Charles Bukowski

video/reading of a poem by "Hank"--about 50 seconds. Charles passes harsh judgment in this one.

link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCRMp1se6Jw