Description Good poetry contains the kind of knowledge we search for, the kind that resonates in the heart as well as the mind. The poems in this anthology are timeless, spanning two millenniums, and drawn from many different centuries and cultures. The voices range from ancient China, Japan, and India to contemporary America and Europe. What they share is a living spirit that can help us change the way we see ourselves, and the world.
As Swedish poet Tomas Transtromer says in his poem about the painter Vermeer, “ I am not empty, I am open”. A good poem may open a door or window we didn’t know existed.
In this age of the twenty-four/seven media assault from all directions good poetry has the capacity to slow us down, make us listen and pay attention. For the reader this book gathers unique selection of direct and accessible poetry that can awaken and transform. For the poet it is perhaps a source book from which to draw inspiration. The great Japanese poet Basho referred to his practice as Kado, the way of poetry. He thought of poetry as a way of life and source of enlightenment. He also suggested that as poets we ”don’t follow in the footsteps of the masters but seek what they sought.”
Contributors include Han-shan, Du Fu, Li Po, Lu Yu, Ryokan, Issa, Buson, Ikkyu, Chiyo-ni, Nanao Sakaki, Ghalib, Lai Ded, Rumi, Antonio Machado,Juan Ramon Jimenez, Miguel Hernandez, Luis Cernuda, Tomas Transtromer, Olav Hauge, Rolf Jacobsen, Francis Ponge, Charles Baudelaire, Rainier Maria Rilke, Pablo Neruda, Gabriela Mistral, Marjorie Agosin, Roberto Juarroz, Denise Levertov, Jane Hirshfield, Phillip Whalen, Gary Snyder, Lew Welch, David Budbill, Louis Jenkins, Cid Corman, Michael McClure, Peter Blue Cloud, Maurice Kenny, Joseph Bruchac, Sam Hamill, Joy Harjo, James Wright, John Brandi, Joseph Stroud, Ilya Kaminsky, Robert Bly, Chase Twichell, and many others.
Accolades Dennis Maloney is the founding editor/publisher of White Pine Press. He is also a poet and translator. His works of translation include The House in the Sand by Pablo Neruda, The Landscape of Castile by Antonio Machado and The Poet and the Sea by Juan Ramon Jimenez. His most recent volume of poetry is Just Enough.
