{"id":4556,"date":"2017-07-28T13:38:39","date_gmt":"2017-07-28T17:38:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=4556"},"modified":"2017-07-28T13:38:39","modified_gmt":"2017-07-28T17:38:39","slug":"poetry-impermanence-mindfulness-joy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2017\/07\/poetry-impermanence-mindfulness-joy.html","title":{"rendered":"Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"poetry\"Good things come in small packages especially when it is The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy<\/a><\/em> edited by the poet John Brehm and published by Wisdom. Wisdom has a habit of producing beautifully crafted books, packed with, well, wisdom! By way of disclosure, two of these books are mine (108 Metaphors for Mindfulness<\/em><\/a> and Mindfulness A to Z<\/em><\/a>).<\/p>\n

There are certain poems and poets that make the mindfulness circuit Brehm has intentionally left these out exposing us to an entirely new world of poetry. I was fascinated to find that, while I was familiar with many of the poets (e.g., Symborzka, Neruda, Basho), I was not using any of his poems in my mindfulness teaching and, therefore, each of these over 125 poems is discovery.<\/p>\n

You won\u2019t find T. S. Eliot, Mary Oliver, Rilke, or Rumi. Also missing, Seamus Heaney, Galway Kinnell, and Derek Walcott. These poets are well represented elsewhere and this collection will acquaint you with the ancient Chinese poets, Japanese Haiku masters, and a range of 19th and 20th century poets, including a cadre from Poland. You will also find Ellen Bass:<\/p>\n

If You Knew
\nWhat if you knew you\u2019d be the last
\nto touch someone?
\nIf you were taking tickets, for example,
\nat the theater, tearing them,
\ngiving back the ragged stubs,
\nyou might take care to touch that palm,
\nbrush your fingertips
\nalong the life line\u2019s crease.
\nWhen a man pulls his wheeled suitcase
\ntoo slowly through the airport, when
\nthe car in front of me doesn\u2019t signal,
\nwhen the clerk at the pharmacy
\nwon\u2019t say Thank you, I don\u2019t remember
\nthey\u2019re going to die.
\nA friend told me she\u2019d been with her aunt.
\nThey\u2019d just had lunch and the waiter,
\na young gay man with plum black eyes,
\njoked as he served the coffee, kissed
\nher aunt\u2019s powdered cheek when they left.
\nThen they walked half a block and her aunt
\ndropped dead on the sidewalk.
\nHow close does the dragon\u2019s spume
\nhave to come? How wide does the crack
\nin heaven have to split?
\nWhat would people look like
\nif we could see them as they are,
\nsoaked in honey, stung and swollen,
\nreckless, pinned against time?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Even though he\u2019s not represented in this work, elsewhere Galway Kinnell said, \u201cPoetry is somebody standing up, so to speak, and saying, with as little concealment as possible, what it is for him or her to be on earth at this moment.\u201d There is much of this kind of truth telling in these poems.<\/p>\n

Someone said, I\u2019m not sure if it was it was also Galway Kinnell, that \u201cpoetry is the process of going so far inside yourself that it becomes universal.\u201d Such depth of self-discovery can be found in the poems in this collection. Brehm collects poets who will tell us (and not all of them Buddhist) that when we attend to impermanence with mindfulness joy results.<\/p>\n

Given that I have been reading in the field, as it were, for almost thirty-five years, I am often left, if I am lucky, with an appreciation for the author\u2019s voice. I am growing weary reading and writing about mindfulness. It\u2019s been overdone. (And while I lament the tedium, I am guilty of perpetuating it; look for my next book, Timeless Truths for Modern Mindfulness<\/em><\/a>, in January 2018 from Sky Horse). It\u2019s rare, however, that I am learning something new, exciting, or expanding my horizons. This book accomplishes all this: new poems, poets, and perspectives.<\/p>\n

The only thing that I would have like is the dates that the poems were written. The date can provide some context for the poem (although we have a range given the dates the poet lived or was born).<\/p>\n

I especially enjoyed the biographies that appear in the back of the book. These are meticulous and concise and along with the poems constitute a poetical education\u2014a far ranging, deep course on poetry. A singular gift in such a small format. It will take me years, perhaps, to work through all the poets highlighted in this volume, the ones I already knew about and especially the ones that I\u2019ve been introduced to know.<\/p>\n

Here is an instructive quote on poetry from one biography of William Stafford:<\/p>\n

A writer is not so much someone who has something to say as he is someone who has found a process that will bring about new things he would not have thought of if he hadn\u2019t started to say them.\u2014William Stafford, quoted in Brehm, 2017, 243)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The essay on mindful reading appears immediately after the poems and I would suggest reading this first because it provides a frame of mind to approach the poems. Keats is quoted saying that to read poetry is to luxuriate in it. \u201cPoetry soothes and emboldens the soul to accept mystery.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that Brehm does not suggest is to read the poems more than once, especially when the analytical mind intrudes in the process. I\u2019ve read each of these poems at least twice, sometimes more, just getting a sense of their rhythm, language, and tone.<\/p>\n

Every great poem has a logic that doesn\u2019t necessarily accord with logic. That is, a rhythm, sense, and meaning that does\u2019t have to accord with conventional reason, although sometimes it does in richly saturated way. I find that memorizing a poem grants access to this inner logic and that the more I read a poem, the deeper inside it I get until it reveals itself.<\/p>\n

Another suggestion that Brehm makes is to read poetry aloud after doing a sound meditation that he provides. Perhaps not on the first reading but once you\u2019ve entered into it a bit, let it speak. This will bring another dimension of the poem alive.<\/p>\n

Here is one of the gems by Jack Gilbert:<\/p>\n

Our heart wanders lost in the dark woods.
\nOur dream wrestles in the castle of doubt.
\nBut there\u2019s music in us. Hope is pushed down
\nbut the angel flies up again taking us with her.
\nThe summer mornings begin inch by inch
\nwhile we sleep, and walk with us later
\nas long-legged beauty through
\nthe dirty streets. It is no surprise
\nthat danger and suffering surround us.
\nWhat astonishes is the singing.
\nWe know the horses are there in the dark
\nmeadow because we can smell them,
\ncan hear them breathing.
\nOur spirit persists like a man struggling
\nthrough the frozen valley
\nwho suddenly smells flowers
\nand realizes the snow is melting
\nout of sight on top of the mountain,
\nknows that spring has begun.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Simone Weil said, \u201cAttention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.\u201d Reading The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy<\/em> is a generous thing that you can do for yourself and it makes a wonderful gift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good things come in small packages especially when it is The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy edited by the poet John Brehm and published by Wisdom. Wisdom has a habit of producing beautifully crafted books, packed with, well, wisdom! By way of disclosure, two of these books are mine (108 Metaphors for Mindfulness and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12,9,13,14],"tags":[60,1153,67,1154,21,1152,214],"class_list":["post-4556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-shelf","category-buddha-101","category-mindfulnesss","category-poetry","category-recommended","tag-buddhism","tag-david-brehm","tag-impermanence","tag-joy","tag-mindfulness","tag-poems","tag-poetry-2"],"yoast_head":"\npoetry collection: mindfulness, impermanence, joy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Buddhist and non-Buddhist Poetry collection focusing on mindfulness, impermanence, and joy, biographies, mediation instructions\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" 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Kozak","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/6ab\/6abd6f3205265768510a13d66ac2aff7x96.jpg","caption":"Dr. Arnie Kozak"},"description":"Recognized as an innovator in the field of mindfulness-based psychology, Dr. Arnie Kozak is northern New England's leading expert in the field. Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4556"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4561,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4556\/revisions\/4561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}