| Hideki Ishikura, studied French literature at Tokyo | | | | is only numbered by pages. The poems are |
| University. He writes traditional Chinese poems in | | | | written in four different languages including English |
| fixed forms and has written over 30,000 works in | | | | for the benefit of other nations and readers to |
| Chinese in over 300 forms during the past 12 | | | | enjoy. The following poem takes the reader into a |
| years. Since the people of Japan uses Chinese | | | | different dimension: |
| letters in their language, this process allows them | | | | In the clouds on the mountain top |
| to easily study and write Chinese poem. Listening | | | | A singing birdis whose soul? |
| to his recitals is amazing, interesting and gripping. | | | | The impending theory here shifts the focus of |
| The tercets he writes are equally educational and | | | | this poem to one regarding immortality of the |
| uplifting. | | | | soul. The rhetorical line begs the question |
| The following is a prime example of his tenacious | | | | regarding the circulatory birthing process of life |
| gift and writing style with the application of humor | | | | and nature. The mountain top has life just as the |
| to enhance the interpretation of his works: | | | | valley; however, the mountain top is selected in |
| A poet lacking talent | | | | this sestet to match the clouds instead of fog in a |
| Beats a chicken and insults a dog- | | | | valley, which could have worked equally well. |
| A great grudge against Muse | | | | Obviously, the mind of a poet has to be one |
| I had a friend to read this tercet and he stated | | | | which is observant and see things an ordinary |
| that is exactly what he felt like doing after | | | | person does not, nor will not see or comprehend |
| reading a poem he does not understand. But what | | | | the same. As a result, creativity flows naturally |
| about this one I asked? He started laughing | | | | when the poets is awake or asleep. The |
| because this was one of the funniest tercet he | | | | brainwaves are always working and connotatively |
| had ever read. Naturally, one is able to see the | | | | musing with evolution because it is a dynamic |
| humor in this piece; how does a poet insults a dog | | | | process instead of a static one. The following |
| and such things? | | | | tercet gives such an example: |
| Equally serious are the words of this next poem | | | | On the head of a dragona woodcutter pulls his |
| and the philosophy behind the theme. This poem | | | | sawto get the horn |
| takes the mind back to nature and things that are | | | | The sequencing of the evolutionary process is |
| natural: | | | | dynamic in this imagery. The concept of dragons |
| Eating flowers and drinking dew | | | | from the past spitting fire, moving on to the |
| When she sings her lips | | | | Magic Dragon of luck is different. Certainly, one |
| Breathe a butterfly's dance | | | | image of the dragon here reflects the cruelty of |
| Here Ishikura plants an image in the mind of the | | | | humankind killing and taking elephants' tusks in |
| reader regarding nature. Obviously, the question is | | | | Africa and Asia for the highest bidder. |
| who, what, or why? The imagination is allowed to | | | | This book is packed with wonderful words of |
| investigate all dimensions. One must realize that | | | | wisdom to spark the mind and the soul to think |
| there is a voice in everything under the sun; | | | | beyond the norm. It is that process which takes |
| equally, the corresponding butterfly's dance is | | | | the souls of individuals to the mountain top for a |
| appropriate at each level of life's existence. | | | | renewal of life in a new form where the mind is |
| This book is not divided into sections by names; it | | | | young and fresh with enhancing thoughts. |