weak reader "I." --- "I am wandering at the karasiga tree And the wind from Tokalau blows quietly; Its waves blossom against the shore. I begin the forms of the dance. The scent of the makita rises. You cast down the short coconuts, They fall to earth and you spin them. Call your child to pick them up. I grasp a nut and tear off the husk. Let us return again to the rear, To enter into the woven house And offer up The Soaring-Dart. Let the noise of the clapping resound." --- --- --- first stanza from five stanza poem, "THE SOARING-DART" / (Fiji) / one of the poems found in, "Technicians of the Sacred / A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia & Oceania" / edited with commentaries by Jerome Rothenberg / Anchor Books / Doubleday & Company, Inc., / Garden City / New York

weak reader Thanks for Kalala Valley and the Na Pali Coast slideshow. The Kalala Valley and the Na Pali Coast slideshow is wonderful.

weak reader A Song on the End of the World --- On the day the world ends A bee circles a clover, A fisherman mends a glimmering net. Happy porpoises jump in the sea, By the rainspout young sparrows are playing And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be. --- On the day the world ends Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas, A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn, Vegetable peddlers shout in the street And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island, The voice of a violin lasts in the air And leads into a starry night. --- And those who expected lightning and thunder are disappointed. And those who expected signs and archangels' trumps Do not believe it is happening now. As long as the sun and the moon are above, As long as the bumblebee visits a rose, As long as rosy infants are born No one believes it is happening now. --- Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet Yet is not a prophet, for he's much too busy, Repeats while he binds his tomatoes: There will be no other end of the world, There will be no other end of the world. --- Warsaw, 1944 --- Czeslaw Milosz --- "A Song on the End of the World" / one of the poems in, "NEW AND COLLECTED POEMS: 1931---2001 / Czeslaw Milosz"

Bette Rickman Mikey, It is just too cool what you guys are doing.I have enjoyed all the pictures and blogs. You guys need to write a book and I would love to read.I wish you safe travels and continued great fun. Bette

weak reader Corrections for, "M E M O R Y" line 7: "the wind on the cliff the cold rain blowing upward" ------------------------------------------------------------------- In, "THE RAIN IN THE TREES," there is one line space between every two lines of poetry in the poem, "M E M O R Y."

weak reader M E M O R Y Climbing through a dark shower I came to the edge of the mountain I was a child and everything was there the flight of eagles the passage of warriors watching the valley far below the wind of the cliff the cold rain blowing upward from the rock face everything around me had burned and I was coming back walking on charcoal among the low green bushes wet to the skin and wide awake --- "M E M O R Y," one of the poems in, "THE RAIN IN THE TREES," W.S. Merwin