Gary Snyder
Shoemaker-Howard (2004)
In a copy of The Best Buddhist Writing, I read a few poems from Danger on Peaks. Their quality motivated me to read the entire collection of poems, Gary Snyder’s first collection in twenty years.
Danger on Peaks begins with the Atomic Dawn of 1945 and as Nagasaki Snyder ascends Mt. St. Helens for the first time. In poetic grace, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens is linked in time with the Atomic Dawn.
Bleak as this may sound, this collection is beautiful and picturesque.
I could hear, from Glacier Ghosts:
“you can never hear enough
sound of wind in pines”
I could taste, from Winter Almond:
“eat black bread with smoked oysters”
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