[198] Japanese Jokes

    In his winged collar
he flew. The nation wanted
    peace. Our Perseus!

    William Blake, William
Blake, William Blake, William Blake,
    say it and feel new!

    Love without sex is
still the most efficient form
    of hell known to man.

    A professional
is one who believes he has
    invented breathing.

    The Creation had
to find room for the exper-
    imental novel.

    When daffodils be-
gin to peer: watch out, para-
    noia's round the bend.

    I get out of bed
and say goodbye to people
    I won't meet again.

    I sit and worry
about money who very
    soon will have to die.

    I consider it
my duty to be old hat
    so you can hate me.

    I am getting fat
and unattractive but so
    much nicer to know.

    Somewhere at the heart
of the universe sounds the
    true mystic note: Me.

    -- Peter Porter

(for Anthony Thwaite).

[ sage, scribe and scholar;
translator of numerous
    Japanese poems. ]

"... [Porter's] main subject is the decadence of commercial western society, to
the analysis of which he brings a jaundiced and witty eye...
... the gnomic humour of these tiny poems is dry and abrasive...
... sometimes Porter manages to synthesize his view of the entire Universe into
a single sentence that seems so 'right' that we feel sure it has been written
before... "
    -- George MacBeth

"Elegist, satirist, art critic, historian of the imagination, poet of cats, and
the cities of London and the mind, student of the times and of Time."
    -- Sean O'Brien, Sunday Times.

    I can add nothing
to Porter's elegance, so
    I stop here - thomas.

From: Martin DeMello <martindemello@>

Word of the day: senryu: 'a haiku-like poem involving human nature only'. Other
definitions I've seen mention humorous intent and adherence to the form of the
haiku without following the contentual guidelines.

See also

http://www.shadowpoetry.com/haiku/haiku.html
http://members.tripod.com/~Startag/HkSenDiff.html

From: "Russell" <puersenex@>

the notes might lead one to think that these short poems are actually
translations.  they're not.  porter has ingeniously crafted  original
epigrams using a 5-7-5 syllable form, that's all. good for him!

                        puer senex

From: "Russell" <puersenex@>

these poems are not, as your note seems to imply, translations, but
original epigrams composed by pp and adapted to the 5-7-5 syllable
japanese haiku form.

    puer   senex