Poetry?

Time, although only a continuos set of intervals, flew by this week. As I have about ten different thoughts, activities to do, I thought a nice change of pace would be to regal you with some of my bloody awful poetry. This is actually a reaction to me finding some of my old poetry and reading. My kindle broke, and I decided to whip out my Norton Anthologies (I have several of them from my time as an English major in undergraduate school) and re-read some pieces that I haven't read in about ten years. I have read Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Beowulf,  and am currently reading Paradise Lost. My poems are nothing so intense or good for that matter. The first one, I think was me trying to be silly and playing with in a certain form. Although, I can't remember the form. It just made me laugh a little at my bravado. The other two are in the form of poetry that sounds like a sneeze- haiku.

Apples Teach

How do apples taste?

Can words decribe its essence?

Experience it!

Live

Hold a cup of tea.

Set down your stored anger.

Enjoy the moment.

The Nut Bomber

On bench do I intend my spot to watch 

A creature most peculiar bounding above.

I take a walk knowing his eyes are searching.

Someone will be target for his pecan.

His cute and surprised looks are deceiving.

Those evil eyes filled with dark intent and pain.

Lurking, hiding in shades above our heads.

On bench do I intend my spot to watch

A creature most peculiar bounding above.

He vaults from limbs with a malicious sense.

Watch the mischievous design develop.

A human is walking not aware of it,

The bomber calculating trajectory.

With a sinister smile the bomb is dropped- Hit!

Ouch! Stunned! quick, look up for the evil culprit.

But a rustle of branches is all he sees.

On bench do I intend my spot to watch

A creature most peculiar bounding above.

Searching towards the branches, but not a crackle

From above. I give a grin as he is searching

For that elusive creature who dropped its nuts

On him. I had my fun today, I walk

Away mindful of any rustle over my head.

Rambling Etymology Part 2

In the my last post, I stated that Hindi and Tibetan derive from the same language in their written form.They are not similar in their spoken form. This is an interesting story.

Their are no records of any formalized written Tibetan Language until King Songtsen Gampo (reigned AD 629-649). The only evidence that there might have been a written language prior was that there is record that reports King Songsten Gampo wrote a letter to the King of Nepal for his daughters hand of marriage. There is no record of the letter. This supposed letter was written prior to sending Tönmi Sambhoti to Northern India (around Kashmir) with a group of scholars to study language and literature. Tönmi Sambhoti is credited with creating a uniformed grammar system to the Tibetan language.He adapted a Northern Indian Gupta script, and modified the rules of written Sanskrit to the Tibetan words. That is pretty impressive. Tibetans were speaking Tibetan, but no written representation existed.

Why is this interesting? It is the political implication for today. China has “absorbed” Tibet claiming that Tibet is really a part of China. This occured after China's Cultural Revolution around 1950. One of many arguments against China’s claim of Tibet being originally part of China is the language. The oral and written language bare no resemblance to any form of Chinese languages- neither Mandarin, Cantonese, or Mongolian. How can an area (Tibet) be China's lost brother/sister, when such an integral part of existence shares no resemblance? Instead of going to China to develop a written language, Tibetans went to India. I'm not going to launch into a political diatribe (well, I did but deleted it).This is more food for thought. Language is integral with culture. 

I inadvertently learned basic Sanskrit from a Tibetan-based meditation exercise on speech and the importance of thoughtful communication. This was taught to be by some Tibetan Monastics. Not sure if I have developed thoughtful communication. 

More on this next time.

Until I ramble on again . . .

Rambling Etymology Part 1

Note: So, I have been MIA here for the past week or two, but I have been writing. So this is part of a series I'm playing around with- language. These lines are mostly filler, until I go on my next adventure. 

Language has always been a fascination of mine. This can expand from non-verbal to verbal communication and all the way to languages and dialect. In unpacking my boxes, I realized I have a schizophrenic (or just ADHD) consumption of languages. In the first picture you can see 5 languages represented- Latin, Spanish, German, Tibetan, and Hindi.

In this second picture, you can see workbooks for several languages as well. Do you think I can read or speak any of these languages? Not really. At one point my German was good enough to order and provide bare communication while in Germany. I taught myself German through books and audio tapes. In undergraduate, I was taking Spanish because they only offered Spanish and French and I took 2 years of Spanish in high school- let logic take you to the conclusion.

It is important to understand that I was taking Spanish, but teaching myself German simultaneously for this story.

I was touring Europe and ended up in Zweibrüken. This is a small town in West Germany, near Saarbrüken. I had been ordering food and saying simple things in German at this time- feeling confident in my spoken German.

After getting a room, I went to the bathroom and the light broke. Full of pride and confidence, I strolled to the front office. In this small town, I’ll speak their language and show them that not all Americans are mono-linguist idiots. To a group of three Germans having a conversation, I started, “Das licht kaput en . . . el baño.” Laughter ensued. I was embarrassed. Of course, immediately, I remembered it was “bathezimmer” not “el baño,” but by then it was too late.

I have a knack of allowing my pomposity to be followed by foolishness.

There are various reasons for the languages that I have chosen, but there are actually intersections. The most obvious is that Spanish is a derivative from Latin, as are French and Italian. English (which I speak and write only slightly better than the other languages) is a derivative of the Indo-Germanic languages- not Latin. The most interesting connection, to me, is that of Tibetan and Hindi. In their written form they come from the same root- Sanskrit.

We will stop there for now.

Until I ramble on again . . .