Basho - Poet of the Month

Matsuo Basho is one of my favourite poets of all time (after Ryokan), and is best known for the trouble he had reconciling his fame with his spiritual side. By the time of his death in 1694, Basho was already revered for rejuvenating the hokku form, still in its infancy as a standalone Japanese poetic model, which was expiring from artificiality in the hands of thematic rulesmiths such as Soin and Saikaku, whose wordplays and common-man appeal were prevalent. Though poetically skilled in this respect, both men lacked a certain poetic beauty in their verse that allowed Basho to create, thanks in part to his Zen learning (Basho was a Zen monk), a serious and aesthetic style that became popular as Basho's paradigm status was cemented.

Basho's haibun - poetry infused with prose - travelogues are equally famous. The best known is undoubtedly The Narrow Road to the Deep North, but others (some just as eloquent) exist. One of my favourites is the short travelogue 'A Visit to Sarashina Village', which contains the beautiful opening sentence; "The autumn wind inspired my heart with a desire to see the rise of the full moon over Mount Obasute."

Rather than write at length about my favourite aspects of Basho's poetry or prose, I have decided instead to post a few poems I've copied out of a wonderful volume entitled 'On Love and Barley - Haiku of Basho', as translated beautifully by Lucien Stryk. The final poem is the last Basho ever wrote, and is in effect his death poem.


You the butterfly -
I, Chuang Tzu's
dreaming heart.


Sound of rapids -
silent yellow petals
of the mountain rose.


Octopus traps -
summer's moonspun dreams,
soon ended.


Come, see real
flowers
of this painful world.


Chestnuts of Kiso -
mementoes for
the floating world.


Friends part
forever - wild geese
lost in cloud.


Mad with poetry,
I stride like Chikusai
into the wind.


Sick on a journey -
over parched fields
dreams wander on.

Piers Morgan 'demands apology'

Piers Morgan tells of his own importance

Piers Morgan, perhaps one of the biggest twats on the planet, has demanded an apology from Tory MP Louise Mensch over comments she made during the recent hearing of the hearing of the Murdochs by the Culture et al select committee.

Mrs Mensch, formerly known as bestselling author Louise Bagshawe (admittedly, her books are chick lit trash), made the following comment during the hearing; "As a former editor of the Daily Mirror, he said in his book The Insider recently that that 'little trick' of entering a 'standard four digit code' will allow 'anyone' to call a number and 'hear all your messages'.

"In that book, he boasted that using that "little trick" enabled him to win scoop of the year on a story about Sven-Goran Eriksson. That is a former editor of the Daily Mirror being very open about his personal use of phone hacking."

Piers Morgans response was both retarded and pompous, as anyone unlucky enough to be aware of the man's existence would expect.

"For an MP to use Parliamentary privilege and state that I wrote in my book that I use phone hacking for stories is a complete outrage because anyone who has read the book knows that I said no such thing.

"I would quite like her to read the book and then apologise in the same public forum that she used to make these ridiculous allegations."

Mrs Mensch is under no obligation to apologise; indeed, I'd rather than she hadn't. It's only likely to have inflated an ego already full to bursting. Piers Morgan, after all, is a contemptible man in that he is not just pompous, self-important, and the host of the most inane chat show I've ever watched, he also possesses the single characteristic I loathe most: hypocrisy. Piers Morgan is a left wing man who has spent his time trying to make as much money as possible, be it through papers, TV, or books. Morgan is talentless, but appears on TV regularly to judge talent because it makes him money. Morgan is in his mid forties, but has already written three volumes of memoirs; I assume they sold if he made so many, but I honestly can't see why. A boring man must surely have had a boring life. I can only assume Morgan's egoism facilitated the metastasis of his 'story' into three volumes of garbage.

One of these days, Piers Morgan is going to have to apologise for watering down the cultural landscape, blatant hypocrisy, and rampant arrogance. Until then, I'll continue to ignore him as best I can.

Jules Michelet - Quote of the Month

"The Orient advances, invincible, fatal to the light of the gods by the charm of its dreams, by the magic of its chiaroscuro."

The 19th century Occident viewpoint in a nutshell, methinks.

Open Letter to Osama Bin Laden

I've come across something interesting, from an issue of Foreign Policy magazine last year. It is an open letter to Osama Bin Laden, authored by the influential former jihadists Noman Benotman (pictured) and Abu Muhammed Al-Libi. I'll let you read it for yourselves, but let's just say I found it an incredibly interesting read. Of course, the letter is largely redundant since Bin Laden's demise, but it's still an interesting piece of history; if nothing else, it's evidence that you can have strong Islamic views without resorting to violence. The link for the letter is below.

http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/10/an_open_letter_to_osama_bin_laden

Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

Yesterday's announcement that the News of the World is going to end its centuries old run is nothing short of brilliant. For far too long, the paper has spewed out its filth and garbage and polluted the minds of the lower classes of the British population. I have nothing but contempt for all tabloid newspapers, and so the death of one of them is a step closer to the quality press being validated as the true and proper source of news for all people.

I am not a Rupert Murdoch hater. Personally, I very much enjoy reading The Times - though The Sunday Times is a little too wasteful in my eyes -, and find it to be the best paper available in the UK. Similarly, I am sure that this NotW incident fits perfectly into his scheme for launching a Sunday edition of The Sun, so all those that rejoice in the purported "death" of News Corporation are quite mistaken. I am just saddened that Murdoch continues to print tabloids at all. From a business persepective, it makes perfect sense; tabloids are by far the most profitable papers of all. But, from a cultural perspective, they are like an awful plague that lure people into their web of poor journalism and inane content.

Let us hope that the News of the World never returns to corrupt the people of this country with its drivel.

Enoch Powell & U-Turns

To say that I've ever agreed with Enoch Powell's politics would be a lie. I am not an ultra-capitalist, anti-immigration imperialist, and never shall I be one. But the method in which Enoch Powell went about his political career is something the politicians of today, especially Cameron's government, could learn from.

Powell stood by his views. Repenting at any time would have likely assured his readmission into the cabinet, but he never did and never would. To him, politics was not merely an instrument for trying to gain as higher position as possible just to be powerful/famous. For Powell, politics was the career one sought if one wanted to try to shape the world in a way that suited their strongly held ideological convictions. David Cameron, on the other hand, has moulded - and continues to mould - his policies on the whims of public opinion.

People of such strongly held political beliefs are always marginalised, regardless of their political stance. On the right, Conservative Dan Hannan is an MEP only - not an influential role by any means - because of his staunch right wing ideals, while, on the left, George Galloway was fired from the Labour Party for his pacifism.

It is up to politicians to choose between their beliefs and their careers. I'd always urge them to go for the former - though I do not share much ideological ground with Powell, Hannan, Benn or Galloway -, simply because there is nothing I despise more than spineless politicians. Though David Cameron is not that bad, he is by no means the best Conservative leader. I would love Ken Clarke to be PM.