Limit this search to....

Cuckoo's Blood: Versions of Zen Masters
Contributor(s): Berg, Stephen (Author)
ISBN: 155659268X     ISBN-13: 9781556592683
Publisher: Copper Canyon Press
OUR PRICE:   $14.40  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: April 2008
Qty:
Temporarily out of stock - Will ship within 2 to 5 weeks
Annotation: "We need poets like this. Mr. Berg relentlessly describes what we would often prefer to forget but can't allow ourselves to forget."-The New York Times Book Review

Certain poems of Zen masters, including work by Ikkyu, Basho, and Dogen, have haunted and nourished readers from around the world for centuries-and Steven Berg for fifty years. Driven to know "what these people thought, believed, felt," Berg rewrote existing translations to create provocative, energized, and multilayered versions.

These are not new poems, nor are they old poems. These are explorations into the deeper resonances of Zen masters, expounding on the simple themes of the minute and overpowering. This is Zen poetry to the core, nodding to the poets who came before while breathing new life into the forms and meanings.

"Deathsong, by Hakuin"

Punch your fist mind of a fist through this black wall al- ways in front of you always the next step you can't take as you walk into it through it but can't because it's who you are but can't be do not want to be nothing but the place where you were are won't be slam this fist of a fist into the wall that isn't even here built of the billion nows yous which when it finally is you finally face it you pass through like a raw black breath

Stephen Berg is the founder and co-editor of The American Poetry Review and author of numerous collections of poetry and translations. He lives in Philadelphia.

Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Poetry | American - General
- Religion | Buddhism - General (see Also Philosophy - Buddhist)
- Poetry | Asian - General
Dewey: 811.54
LCCN: 2007040092
Physical Information: 0.44" H x 6.3" W x 8.97" (0.52 lbs) 136 pages
Themes:
- Religious Orientation - Buddhist
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

"We need poets like this. Mr. Berg relentlessly describes what we would often prefer to forget but can't allow ourselves to forget."--The New York Times Book Review

Certain poems of Zen masters, including work by Ikkyu, Basho, and Dogen, have haunted and nourished readers from around the world for centuries--and Steven Berg for fifty years. Driven to know "what these people thought, believed, felt," Berg rewrote existing translations to create provocative, energized, and multilayered versions.

These are not new poems, nor are they old poems. These are explorations into the deeper resonances of Zen masters, expounding on the simple themes of the minute and overpowering. This is Zen poetry to the core, nodding to the poets who came before while breathing new life into the forms and meanings.

"Deathsong, by Hakuin"

Punch your fist mind of a fist through this black wall al-
ways in front of you always the next step you can't
take as you walk into it through it but can't
because it's who you are but can't be do not want
to be nothing but the place where you were are won't
be slam this fist of a fist into the wall that
isn't even here built of the billion nows yous
which when it finally is you finally face it you
pass through like a raw black breath

Stephen Berg is the founder and co-editor of The American Poetry Review and author of numerous collections of poetry and translations. He lives in Philadelphia.