The Poetry of Zen

Translated and edited by Sam Hammill and J. P. Seaton

Shambala Library (2004)

This nice little book is an excellent introduction to the Zen poets.  It

is divided into two parts:

            1) Chinese poems

            2) Japanese poems.

Both are well represented and give the reader an understanding of the two

cultures’ styles.

The representative poets are chosen well; the book includes poems by most

of the heavy hitters.  Each poet is lightly represented with just a taste

of their work.

Reading The Poetry of Zen is a nice way to get a feel for a starting place

if you want to explore this art form.

Following the poems is a concise commentary about each poet.  I enjoyed

reading the poem then flipping to the back and reading about the poet.

The Poetry of Zen is not only a good introduction, but also a nice little

impressive anthology to share with friends.

The Selected Poems

By Li Po (701-762)

Translated by David Hinton

New Directions (1996)

About 4 years ago, I read this collection and last month I decided to reread Li Po, one of my favorite Chinese poets.

Li Po was called the “Banished Immortal,” an exiled spirit moving through this world with an unearthly ease and freedom from attachment. He is free from the attachments to self, however he profoundly belongs to mother earth. Li Po’s life was full of travel, big time pleasure drinking and a disdain of décor and authority. His meditative poems reflect his unfolding of being, rooted in non-being stillness.

I find Li Po easy to read, and that his poems lean from reading to self-reflection. Contemplative, yet, fun, profound they exist, somehow, from within the writer so long ago to within the reader of the present. Timeless so to say.

In wanting to share a poem, I just opened to a turned down page, and this was the poem:

9/9, Out drinking on Dragon Mountain

I’m an exile among yellow blossoms smiling

Soon drunk, I watch my cap tumble in the wind,

Dance in love—A guest the moon invites.

Li Po, ended his life out drunk in a boat, fell into the river and drowned trying to embrace the moon.

Ho (whose name means “Spring Essence”) was an 18th century Vietnamese concubine. Writing as a male, she followed this Confucian tradition. Many of her poems are double entendres: each has hidden within another poem, with sexual meaning revealing itself as a pun. No other poet dared this as sex, is a forbidden topic in this literary tradition. Her excellence as a poet allowed her to get away with irreverence. Her exquisite cleverness and skill in composing 2 poems at once, one hidden allowed her to capture audiences and survive.

A favorite:

“The Well Spring”

A narrow path descends through brush
To the bright water of your wondrous pool.

Under a footbridge’s pale twin planks
The pure spring shunts in shimmering rills.

Tufts of sedge surround its mouth.
A golden carp glides midstream.

Finding this well, so virginal and clear,
Who would put a catfish here?

This most enjoyable poem—absorbed slowly—yields pleasure-reaping moments and many smiles. Spring Essence concludes my simultaneous 3-female poet reading project.