GLOSSARY
â
Ars Poetica
â
after Czeslaw Miloszâs poem, âShould, Should Notâ
âAssiniboineâ
title refers to a river in the southern prairie of Saskatchewan and Manitoba
âBarranquillaâ
title refers to a city in southwest Colombia
Compadres
(Spanish), companions
Vete a la mierda, hijo de puta
(Spanish), âEat shit, you sonofabitchâ
Hermoso, sÃ
(Spanish), âBeautiful, yesâ
âBokusekiâ
title from the Japanese
seki
, traces, and
boku
, ink; early Zen writings
âBonsaiâ
title from the Japanese
bonsai
, tray planting
epigraph from
The Analects of Confucius,
Book III , Chapter XVII : âTsâze-kung wished to do away with the offering of sheep for sacrifice connected with the inauguration of the first day of the month.â
âBya Jhatorâ
title refers to sky burial, a Tibetan funerary practice in which the corpse is left out for vultures
âvoltâ is a collective noun for a gathering of vultures
âCalligraphyâ
Basho, our cat, is named for Matsuo Basho (1644â94), a great poet of the Edo period in Japan
âCowichan Valley Poemâ
dedicated to Richard Osler
âEli, Eliâ
eli
(Hebrew), ascent
âHiraganaâ
Hiragana
are feminine brushstrokes in Japanese calligraphy, originally
onâna de
âIkiâ
iki
(Japanese), blunt, unwavering directness
Bette Davis (1908â89), American movie star
All About Eve
, 1950 movie drama
âIncoherenceâ
Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology
âInnocenceâ
âYour poems are the disfigurement of innocence,â a remark made by the poet, Sharon Thesen, for which I am grateful
âLimboâ
in Christian theology, limbo is the abode after death of the souls of unbaptized infants
âLittle Hellâs Gateâ
title refers to a dog-leg narrowing of the North Thompson River canyon
âMerlinâ
title refers to a small, pugnacious falcon,
Falco columbarius
âMujoâ
mujo
(Japanese), impermanence
Red-veined meadowhawk,
Sympetrum madidum
, dragonfly
âOff ValparaÃsoâ
title refers to a port city of Chile
âPartita in A Minorâ
title refers to a piece of music in four movements for solo flute by Johann Sebastian Bach
dedicated to Martha Royea
âQuâAppelle Hillsâ
title refers to the region of the QuâAppelle River and valley in southern Saskatchewan. The name is a corruption of a French phrase,
qui appelle?
(who calls?)
âRyoanjiâ
Ryoanji is a dry landscape (
Karesansui
) rock garden created in Kyoto, Japan, during the fifteenth century
âSabiâ
sabi
(Japanese), the beauty and serenity that comes with age
âScreeâ
title refers to broken rock fragments at the base of mountain crags
âSlack Beautyâ
title phrase is from the text of an essay by the American poet, Jack Gilbert
Blida, a city in Algeria
Carrion crow,
Corvus corone
, a native crow of North Africa
Albert Camus wrote of
lâabsence totale dâespoir
(French), the total absence of hope
Hoko-ji, a temple in Kyoto, Japan, containing the
bonsho
bell commissioned by Toyotomi Hideyori, last of a series of nine bells cast in August 1612
âSoft and Moist, Hard and Dryâ
âAt seventy I followed my heart,â from
The Analects of Confucius
âSunyataâ
sunyata
(Japanese), emptiness
âSwarfâ
swarf is grit from grinding metal or dust from sawing wood
the Washita is a sharpening stone fashioned out of white quartz rock from the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas
âUguisubariâ
uguisubari
(Japanese), the ânightingale floorâ designed to make chirping noises when walked upon to warn inhabitants of anyone approaching
yugen
(Japanese), the depth of the world we live in, subtle, mysterious
âWishing Not to Be Aloof Like Stoneâ
title is a paraphrase of the last line from Book I , Section XXXIX , of the
Tao te
Learning to Kill: Stories