To Tu Fu*

the love songs of Catullus, Tu Fu, or the poetry from tribal people (best is the anthology called "Technicians of the Sacred"), the poems of King David...its amazing how nothing is really unique to a basic humanity. Good Poetry and wine have been around a long time. The tribal peoples make a good beer, and have their hallucinogens too!

Lately I've been deeply involved with the marvels of the ancient world and how technically sophisticated they were. There is so much concrete scientific evidence that electricity was common in ancient Egypt that to deny it is the same as denying climate change today. and so so much more. Great stuff to read about!

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Thank you so much for that. makes it all worth it!

Some have it as Du Fu. But the "White Pony Chinese Anthology," the most famous in English, and "100 poems from the Chinese" by Kenneth Rexroth have him as Tu Fu. Quite a lot known abut his life. He did refer to his asthma in some of his works. Here's a typical poem, from which I used in my poem:

Loneliness

A hawk hovers in the air.
Two white gulls float on the stream,
Soaring with the wind, it is easy
To drop and seize
Birds who foolishly drift with the current.
Where the dew sparkles in the grass
The spider's web waits for its prey.
The process of nature resembles the business of man.
I stand alone with ten thousand sorrows.

I think that about says it all!
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