3 Poems by Doug Johnson

SONG 209
Han Shan

When water is so clear it sparkles
you can see the bottom without effort
when your mind doesn’t have a goal
no circumstance can distract you
once your mind doesn’t chase illusions
even kalpa holds no change
if you can be so aware
from such awareness nothing hides

Chanson 209
Quand eau chuchote verre
Elle-veut carpe diem
il-peut voir carpe doré

Quand votre qi chuchote verre
Villageois hurleront mirage
mais cadres ne inquiétez-vous pas

kalpa changent bébés
kalpa changent âgées
Si peut-il chuchote sans parler

Peuvent-ils entendre tout
Peut-il chuchote eau

SONG 209
When water whispers glass
She sees, seize the day
You can see the golden carp

When your chi whispers glass
Villagers will scream mirage
but surroundings don’t disquiet

kalpa changes babies
kalpa changes elders
If you whisper without speaking

You can hear all
You can whisper water


THINKING OF MY HOME IN CH’AN-AN WHILE TRAVELING WITH THE ARMY ON THE NINTH

Ts’en Shen

If only I could climb somewhere
but no one sends me wine
my poor distant garden of mums
blooms by a battlefield now



RÉFLÉCHANT DE MA MAISON EN YAKIMA PENDANT QUE J’ ÉTAIS Á BICYCLETTE EN LE AVENUE NEUVIÉME

Si seulement je pourvoyais monter Montaigne Froid−
mais pour quel raison.
Le gardien de ma femme plein de basilic
demande du Chemin,

pourquoi nous combattons les rosiers?


THINKING OF MY HOME IN YAKIMA WHILE RIDING MY ON NINTH AVENUE

If only I could climb Cold Mountain−
but for what reason.
My wife’s garden, full of basil,
asks the Way

why do we war with the roses?


SONG ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY −NINE
Han Shan

Live without making visits
die neither kind nor just
words include limbs and leaves
thoughts contain lies and betrayals
people who clear a small path
thereby give rise to great deceit
claiming to build a ladder to the clouds
they whittle it into splinters


CENT SOIXANTE VINGT – NEUF ESCELIERS AU CIEL

Vous vit sans rendre visites á Stevie Wonder
Vous meurt ni gentil ni juste
mots cultivent branches et feuilles
réflexions fleurons mensonges et abuses de confiance.
Coupait les arbres construire escaliers au nuages
Stevie nie, fend et brise le Chemin


ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY −NINE STAIRWAYS TO HEAVEN

Live without visiting Stevie Wonder
die neither kind nor just
words grow branches and leaves
thoughts blossom lies and betrayal.
Cutting down the trees to build stairways to the clouds

Stevie nixes, splinters, and shatters the Way

Bionote

Doug Johnson is the founding editor of Cave Moon Press. He holds a PhD in Psychology and is a member of Mensa.  His poems and photographs have appeared across the U.S. in literary journals.  His short stories have appeared in Audience and Skive out of New York and Australia.  His book of short fiction Frank’s Diary was nominated for the Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Award.  A chapbook will be released by Red Ochre Press called Pedaling Blind. His debut novel appears in fall of 2013. Of the book, Home on the Range, Naomi Shihab Nye wrote: “Douglas P. Johnson, citizen of the world, visionary artist of words and visual images, responds deeply and generously to the mysteries and complexities we are living through.  He is a voice of witness and empathy, resonantly attentive to the voices and stories around him- poems as corrals, gathering places, or poems as sieves, filtering out the tiny glittering stones.”