Steven Forth

Fujiwara Shunzei - my rtanslation In the past at my grass hut in the night rain Do not add your tears mountain cuckoo 昔思ふ　草の庵の　夜の雨に　涙な添へそ　山ほととぎす Mukashi omou kusa no iori no yo no ame ni namida na soe so yama hototogisu #poetry #waka #Japan #translation

Checkout my new translation of an important modern Japanese poet - Minoru Yoshioka. If you thought Japanese poetry was all haiku, you're in for an eye-opener. Yoshioka was a bridge between prewar experiment and later developments in the 1970s. Available on amazon and other sites.

Back to exploring some layering again, this time all acrylic. Very different from working with Japanese ink.

1st lines The children of the village took their sticks and whacked a pine-burl puck back and forth relentlessly, they tell me. After they had played awhile, they hollered score! score! score!, they say. Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas tr by Robert Bringhurst #1stlines #poetry #Haida #translations

'Every Day, Humankind Saws Another Branch Off the Tree of Life' by Sarah Cox via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2026/10... #Canada #climatechange #BC

The peat bog’s Slow deaths accumulate Over time - Carbon accumulates In the water logged debris Microbes spawn - After a walk in the rain Changing my socks Getting close to the heater #poetry #haiku #fall #peat #microbes

1st lines He wrapped his fingers around the whetstone that he wore around his neck, and he leaped into the pool, they say. He found himself in front of a large house, and they invited him inside. ... Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas tr by Robert Bringhurst #1stlines #poetry #Haida #translations

1st lines Pounding the mallet I spot some blood --- that mochi's tough Uejima Onitsura tr by Earl Trotter This has happened to me more than once. #1stlines #poetry #haiku #translation #Japan

Morning notes ... Pupils dilated The white page Too bright to read — Entangled collapse Of all our possibilities Into one — Death eliminating Each entanglement All at once #poetry #haiku #morning

Essential reading, will be the book I give for Christmas. Are You There, Canada? It's Me, Canada by Dorothy Woodend via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Culture/2026... #Booksky #Canada

The Ugly History of IQ Testing Matters for AI's Future by Jay Timothy Dolmage via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/Culture/2026... #AI #IQ #AGI

1st lines There was a child of good family they say, at Swiftcurrent Creek. And her father had one of his slaves constantly watching her. She said to the slave "Tell that one I want to make love ..." Ghandl of the Qayahl Llaanas tr by Robert Bringhurst #1stlines #poetry #Haida #translations

Change of season in my reading. These are the four books I am reading at the moment. #Booksky #books #poetry #translation

Fascinating essay by Anne Tardos "How Not to Teach Multilingual Writing." Writing across and between languages creates a compelling space. www.annetardos.com/essays_pdfs/... #writing #poetry #multilingual #Hungarian #German #English #French

1st lines When the slow but definitive deterioration occurs Educated microbes rub tiny hands together Anticipating their next meal like timid vultures. The animal in question understands the rules But does what it can to fight. ... From How Water Works by Anne Tardos #1stlines #poetry

Reading Montreal Standard Time by Mavis Gallant. My father was in high school in Montreal in the period she was writing this (1944 to 1950). I am learning a lot and I am being taken closer to him. mtlreviewofbooks.ca/reviews/mont... #Booksky #Canada #Montreal

1st lines Is mathematics invented or discovered, you ask. How it is discovered is the invention. There must be incalculable forms of viewbpoints. I know my dog is one who recognizes me each time I come home. Thus confirming my identity ... From How Water Works by Anne Tardos #1stlines #poetry

1st Lines ineffable inner space bursting with liberty assents to the loss of its footing from within filaments unite the cadence too effervescent to arrest we brought ourselves no longer needing patterns and mystically understood Lissa Wolsak in Lightsail #1stlines #poetry

Notebook today...

Today's notebook

My current reading. #Booksky #poetry

1st Lines the neck .. almost over the line he trembled .. grasping with the eyes .. on under-finessed ground one-handed, eight-handed, we squandered our utmost primal secret .. .. to ~ make love Lissa Wolsak in Lightsail #1stlines #poetry

1st Lines denuding .. to make sense of their lassitude, witnessing ourselves, I saw you .. color-puncture sluing .. quiet, when our wild sister or her semblance eyeing the place hung above the flickering hour when comes a wordless, intersetllar agape Lissa Wolsak in Lightsail #1stlines #poetry

Delighted with the outcome of the Vancouver election. The Greening of Vancouver City Hall via @thetyee.ca thetyee.ca/News/2026/10... #Canada #BC #Vancouver #election #Greens

1st lines It was when the wine flower was dying in the dark and they said that the sea would save it from the dream. That day I felt my way down to your dank and whitewashed soul. And I conformed a cold, hidden soul, and stairs, ... Rafael Alberti tr by John Murillo #1stlines #poetry #translation

Translating some Fujiwara Shunzei as I prepare for a major effort to translate Fujiwara Teika. 今日といへば　唐土までも　ゆく春を　都にのみと　思ひけるかな When we say today even in distant China spring goes away only in the capital did I think it was passing #poetry #translatin #tanka #Japan

The National Post is owned by far right Americans, the Globe and Mail is moving even further to the right. Alternatives are needed. Here is another thetyee.ca #Canada #media

The National Post is owned by far right Americans, the Globe and Mail is moving even further to the right. Alternatives are needed. Here is one breachmedia.ca #Canada #media

Looking forward to going to the Begin Anywhere exhibition about Martin Bartlett at the SFU Gibson Art Museum gibson.sfu.ca/whats-on/mar... #Canada #BC #art #music #emergence

1st lines Lights precipitated by the sky's collapse, in the ferry of fog you came down, Ashen One. To break chains and pit earth against wind. Wrathful, blind. To break chains and pit seas against fire. ... Rafael Alberti tr by John Murillo #1stlines #poetry #translation

Some thoughts on the structure of the known, unknown and unknowable and where AI plays. www.linkedin.com/pulse/where-... #AI #knowledge #borders

Daniel Canty's new novel is coming out, hope this gets translated into English, will pick my way through in French. www.leslibraires.ca/livres/le-li... #Booksky #Canada #Quebec #novels

1st lines It's dark and late and still. Let me hear your voice -- once again once more -- the sound of your voice as you spek my name. Let me feel your touch -- and again as before -- against all the cold in the night out there kept away by the fold of your arms. Gael Turnbull #1stlines #poetry

Emily Lowan crushed it in the debate. She was the only one of the three party leaders who had a credible vision for BC, all the people of BC and for the economy. bcgreens.ca #Canada #BC #sustainabiliy #economy #BCGreens

1st lines Throughout the centuries, through the nothingness of the world, I, without sleep, search for you. Behind me, imperceptible, without touching my shoulders, my dead angel keeps watch. Rafael Alberti tr by John Murillo #1stline #poetry #Spain #translation

Fascinating study of negative space in Inuit prints www.inuitartfoundation.org/inuit-art-qu... #Canada #North #Inuit #art #prints #negativespace

An exploration of graph theory and how it can be used to explore my writing. foldingnotes.substack.com/p/graphing-n... #haiku #poetry #notes #graphs #mathematics #graphtheory #conceptgraph #wordgraph #soundgraph

1st lines Lamp wick turned up, the room glows white. The loom moves easily all night long as feet work and push below. Nimbly the shuttle flies in and out, wide or narrow, big or small, sliding in snug. ... Hồ Xuân Hương 胡春香 tr by John Balaban #1stlines #poetry #Vietnam

1st lines Before dawn, the watch drum tumbles. Lonely pink face among mountains and streams addled but alert with a cup of fragrant wine as the moon sets, just a sliver not yet full. Moss seems to creep across the earth's face. ... Hồ Xuân Hương 胡春香 tr by John Balaban #1stlines #poetry #Vietnam

The Pet Shop Boys new album on Alan Turing called A Man From the Future is weirdly compelling. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Man_f... #music #PetShopBoys #Turing

Granddaughter's shoes. #shoes #symmetery

Looking forward to studying this book. The interplay of light and water is central to my own thought. www.lars-mueller-publishers.com/dorte-mandru... #books #Booksky #design #water #light

1sr lines my ancestral throat wants to howl loudly you know the kind a deep language of sound administered from the belly of my inner core breathe work soldifying beastly sounds by vibrating pencil marks through an inkling who suddenly ... by Michelle Sylliboy #1stlines #poetry #Canada #Mi'kmaq

Today's notebook

Painting: Practicing with big floppy new brush

Another one - again, practicing with a new brush.

Three new paintings today: practicing with big brush

Two from several days ago and two new today.

Tried another approach this morning for painting over text.