Looking for Dragonsmoke
AUTHOR
Robert Bly
A collection of sixteen seminal essays written from 1977 to 2005 by National Book Award winner Robert Bly (AbeBooks), this volume explores what makes poetry authentic and powerful—what Bly calls "dragon smoke," referring to the ancient Chinese image of poets riding dragons and dragging long tails of smoke behind them (BookScouter). The book includes essential pieces like "Six Disciplines That Intensify Poetry" and "The Eight Stages of Translation," alongside illuminating essays on major poets including Rilke, Machado, Whitman, Stevens, and Hirshfield. Jane Hirshfield praised Bly as a force of geological genius who has transformed the landscape of poetry and culture (ThriftBooks).
Reviews
"Robert Bly has become, over his several lifetimes of ink and words, a force of geological genius, transforming the landscape of poetry and culture in ways that set him beside the Old Masters and anonymous teachers whose praises his lines so often sing. This book carries its own lantern of bioluminescence, an alchemical music and knowledge, and Bly's ferocious thirst, needed now more than ever."
—Jane Hirshfield
Robert Bly (1926 - 2021) had a profound impact on the shape of American poetry. He is the author of more than thirty books of poetry and essays. As the editor of the magazine The Sixties (begun as The Fifties), Bly introduced many unknown European and South American poets to an American audience. His honors include Guggenheim, Rockefeller, and National Endowment for the Arts fellowships as well as The Robert Frost Medal from the Poetry Society of America. His recent books include Like the New Moon I Will Live My Life, Looking for Dragon Smoke and Collected Poems.