Five Poems, by Gregory Betts

After Basho

from frog pond song
reflections

on a still black log

moon singing

m ( ) ( ) n

(

f r ( ) m      ( ) ( ) o m

f r ( ) g      ( ) ( ) o ( )

p ( ) n d      ( ) o n ( )

s ( ) n g      ( ) o n ( )

)

fromfr fromfrogpondsong food gnosdnopgorfmorf rfmorf

ogpond romfrogpondsongf rnms fgnosdnopgorfmor dnopgo

songfr omfrogpondsongfr odfo rfgnosdnopgorfmo rfgnos

omfrog mfrogpondsongfro msrn orfgnosdnopgorfm grofmo

pondso frogpondsongfrom foog morfgnosdnopgorm osdnop

ngfrom rogpondsongfromf rngf fmorfgnosdnopgor morfgn

frogpo ogpondsongfromfr ogpr rfmorfgnosdnodgo opgorf

ndsong gpondsongfromfro gfoo orfmorfgnosdnopg gnosdn

fromfr pondsongfromfrog prnm gorfmorfgnosfnop rfmorf

fromfr pondsongfromfrog prnm gorfmorfgnosfnop rfmorf

ndsong gpondsongfromfro gfoo orfmorfgnosdnopg gnosdn

frogpo ogpondsongfromfr ogpr rfmorfgnosdnodgo opgorf

ngfrom rogpondsongfromf rngf fmorfgnosdnopgor morfgn

pondso frogpondsongfrom foog morfgnosdnopgorm osdnop

omfrog mfrogpondsongfro msrn orfgnosdnopgorfm grofmo

songfr omfrogpondsongfr odfo rfgnosdnopgorfmo rfgnos

ogpond romfrogpondsongf rnms fgnosdnopgorfmor dnopgo

fromfr fromfrogpondsong food gnosdnopgorfmorf rfmorf

Sadness is the Blood

sadness pours

across discontented space

clouds in sighs to sighs

in sudden throat clots

in random deaths unmourned

you’ve been suddenly assigned

breathe in each cloud of sadness

until lungs back into life die

A Pond Reflection

m ( ) n

( ) n

( ) h ( )

m ( ) ( ) n

Gregory Betts is the author of seven books of poetry, including most recently Sweet Forme: Shake-Speare’s Perfect Sonnets (Apothecary Archive, Australia), a data visualization response to the sound of the internal rhymes in Shakespeare’s sonnets. His work has been published and taught across North America and Europe. He is the curator of the bpNichol.ca Digital Archive and a professor of Canadian and avant-garde literature at Brock University.