The Fabulous World of the Senses

For some reason, I love "Poetry for Beginners" anthologies. It could be as simple as the fact that that's how I was first introduced to poetry. I think in another post I've lauded John Ciardi's "How Does a Poem Mean" to the heavens - it quickly became my very own Little Red Book. I've still got that dog-eared, marked-up copy.


Now I'm flipping through X.J. Kennedy's "An Introduction to Poetry" and getting a lot out of his descriptions of the tools of the trade like metaphor, diction, syntax. This poem he used to illustrate imagery, which he describes as "a word or sequence of words that refers to any sensory experience." 

"The piercing chill"

Taniguchi Buson, trans. by Harold G. Henderson

The piercing chill I feel:
my dead wife's comb, in our bedroom,
under my heel...




Man, the hair on my neck stands up with that sensory experience. Although I do like how the poet has edited himself through multiple versions. Here's his first draft...


The grating displeasure I feel:
my dead wife's toenail clippings, in the bathroom,
under my arches...