Category: Englyn

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the treehouse hung. the tappings of the rain:
a safe sound, plain, cloud-drainings,
wet branches' world worshippings.

– an englyn penfyr.

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Well, I'm glad that's over now. This aging...
always getting older, how?
...furrowed brow.

– an englyn cil-dwrn .

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The eagle has a plan: soar. Fly up, first,
with wings' strength - a burst - before
settling to a glide, no more.

– an englyn penfyr.

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I trimmed some branches that blocked my small trail:
too easy, can't fail, so I walked
along, cutting, while birds talked.

– an englyn penfyr.

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having been in the army; times like these:
discipline, freeze, just agree,
exhaustion seethes in me

– an englyn penfyr.

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The map has abandoned me. Or maybe,
alternately, set me free,
but it leaves me so lonely.

– an englyn penfyr.

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The silence captured the day, subdued it.
Up here I sit, in dismay.
I realize I've lost my way.

– an englyn penfyr.

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A dream: I argued, angry, frustrated.
The sky turned red - sympathy:
gods agree.

– an englyn cil-dwrn.

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Outside the kitchen window, blueberries:
green shrubberies slowly grow,
slugs below.

– an englyn cil-dwrn .

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The map was full of features, all made up.
O map maker, stop: such teachers...
such creatures.

– an englyn cil-dwrn .

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The map demanded my work,
took form out of my mind's murk...
this mapping thing - that's my quirk.

– an englyn milwr.

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There's no sun and the wind blows.
Words form on the page, in rows.
Motivation lags. I doze.

– a defective englyn milwr (missing cross consonance).

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The tide retreats, shows seaweed, barnacles,
stones like knuckles of fists, freed
from earth's creed.

– an englyn cil-dwrn.

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There was frost as sun touched shore.
Spring's birds worried: what's in store?
Perhaps Winter's keeping score.

– an englyn milwr

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We discussed how life can be, on this island:
how things are planned... we don't see
results, just gravel and sea.

– an englyn penfyr.

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Pain is a constant haunting, it stays low...
not really so bad, waiting
to see... maybe it's fading.

– an englyn penfyr.

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The map revealed the new road (or made it),
a bold transit, so it showed
the movement from node to node.

– an englyn penfyr.

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After a few days of cold,
the weather shifted, got bold,
and a steady snow took hold.

– an englyn milwr.

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The dead congregated here, among trees,
and your unease, even fear...
it fed them and kept them near.

– an englyn penfyr.

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Everything becomes quite slow, the world rests,
the weather tests... tries to show
how things go.

– an englyn cil-dwrn.

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I sat down in the cold snow, getting wet,
trying to get that round 'O',
the wheel, on the hub; too low.

– an englyn penfyr.

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Yesterday morning, colder, and I walked,
stopped and talked... to a boulder,
it was silent. I, older.

– an englyn penfyr.

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this morning i'm in mourning that dead fish
so yummy squish decaying
then you yelled "no!" so boring

– an englyn penfyr.

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perhaps I'm an oddity
{a/o}ccidental ajeossi*
this unlikely odyssey

– an englyn milwr, somewhat loose on the rhyme.

*NOTE: “ajeossi” (아저씨) is a very common Korean word. Formally, it’s a term of polite address used by a younger person for a man who is older. Such terms of address are ubiquitous in Korean, because there is a taboo on using the name of someone older than you in their presence – so you need a term of reference and address, instead. If you’re a child, all men in their 20’s and up are “ajeossi”. If you’re a man my age, then only men in my dad’s generation are “ajeossi” – it’s a relative term. It’s frequently translated as meaning “uncle”, but that’s not really accurate at all – there’s no implication of blood relation of any kind, but in Korean society, which is quite communitarian (such that the whole of society is, in one sense, one big family), there is some of that “uncle” semantics attached. In Korean popular culture, the word is used, too, as a kind of slang to represent “a stereotypical middle-aged man who lacks a sense of what’s currently trendy and is entitled and stuck in tradition”. Thus it actually overlaps with English slang terms like “boomer” – I’ve even heard it explained as a kind of male “karen” (in the slang sense). In Korean English, the word is almost always used untranslated, as it’s considered untranslatable. Among my friends in Korea, I was often jokingly referred to as “miguk ajeossi” (“miguk” = “American”) – both because I was older than the typical “American teaching in Korea” but also because in terms of behavior, I was perceived to be “more traditionally Korean than the Koreans”. Generally I decided that rather than be insulted, I’d take it as a compliment on my having gone sufficiently native.

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the rain bonked the roof all night,
but sleep's disruption was slight;
I slept in, till morning's light.

– an englyn milwr.

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The dreamspace filled with angles,
adrift in air, like seagulls,
but math was all illegal.

– an englyn milwr.

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Some stories are told alone, you can hear,
with mouth for ear, with soft tone,
self-whispering, on your own.

– an englyn penfyr.

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The moon was up there smiling, among stars,
and maybe mars, above things,
things like the trees, all growing.

– an englyn penfyr.

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some days I go through motions
exist without intentions
make up other worlds' oceans

– an englyn milwr.

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The dog likes to take her walk
running free down by the dock;
she doesn't hang out or talk.

– an englyn milwr.

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Terrible dreams: broken saws,
sunken boats, failing to draw,
angry people, feeling blah.

– an englyn milwr.

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And so then it came to pass,
the dog grazed upon the grass:
a creature in a strange class.

– an englyn milwr.

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So they saw how it has been;
they said it would rain again.
You have to be a bit zen.

– an englyn milwr.