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In the Spirit of T'ao Ch'ien
Charles Rossiter, Editor
One of the poets in this book speaks of “First Breath” and “Last Breath.” Here are American poets who have “breathed in” the breath of such Chinese poets as T'ao Ch'ien, Han Shan, and Wang Wei. And here they breathe it back out again where it mingles with the breath of America.
Jonathan Chaves
Translator and Professor of Chinese
Contributors
Sam Hamill
Michael Czarnecki
David Budbill
Charles Rossiter
Antler
From the Introduction:
T'ao Ch'ien (365-427 C.E.) is a major figure in the Chinese poetic tradition whose influence on subsequent generations cannot be overstated. After holding several official posts he abandoned a traditional government career for the life of a reclusive gentleman farmer. His poems, expressed in natural language, reflect on ordinary daily occurrences and express a deep connection with nature. Despite their accessibility and seeming simplicity, they are deeply philosophical.
The poems in this collection share characteristics with T'ao Ch'ien and other poets of ancient China. They are plain spoken, clear, generally short, and readily understandable. These poems explore the poets' states of consciousness and relationship with the natural world as they seek a self-understanding, as well as a connectedness with all that surrounds them. These poems document human relationships, and the comings and goings of other people in the poets' lives. When these poets address issues in the wider world, they see through the smoke and mirrors of officialdom and are critical of social injustice.
Like T'ao Ch'ien's poems, those collected here reflect a viewpoint on life and society from outside the mainstream. Poetry is at the center of each of these poets lives, yet, unlike many contemporary American poets, none holds an academic position. Although the poets live in varied circumstances, all five share the lifestyle of the Chinese mountain recluse when one considers what that lifestyle entails. As David Hinton, poet and translator of T'ao Ch'ien and other major Chinese poets describes it, the “mountain recluse” lifestyle generally included “a relatively comfortable house, a substantial library, family, friends,” as well as a political dimension, “for the wisdom cultivated in such a life was considered essential to sage governing.”
From the book:
Sam Hamill
Mountains and Rivers Without End
After making love, we are like
rivers come down from mountain summits.
We are still, we are moving,
calm in the depths of danger-
two rivers entering the sea
slowly, as if nothing matters:
quietly, but with great power
merging in deepening waters.
Michael Czarnecki
In The Spirit of T'ao Ch'ien:
a Sequence of 15 Poems
2
Hilltop covered in thick fog
nearby trees barely in view.
No sunrise over eastern ridge
only slow lightening of sky.
Cat meows, wanting food in his dish
homemade bread toasting on wood stove.
Would you understand if I said
right here, the center of the world.
David Budbill
An Old Dog Headed for the Park
or
Glad to Have Another Day
(Montreal, 3/18/07)
Two mornings now we've watched
an old dog
walk past the windows of our B&B,
out in the cold air,
out in the new snow, headed for
the park,
yesterday with the man,
this morning with the woman.
He's old,
he's overweight,
he moves real slow,
he waddles along
wagging his tail
the whole way.
Charlie Rossiter
Cold Mountain 2000:
Han Shan In the City
(4 poems from a series of 51)
I'm here in the city
but there's something wild and unknowable
about where I live.
Crooked alleys and dark shadows
make the way uncertain.
If I choose to go inside
there's no way you'll ever find me.
Antler
First Breath Last Breath
When a baby boy is born
and the midwife
holds him up
as he takes
his first breath,
Place him over
the Mother's face
so when the baby exhales
his first breath on Earth
the Mother breathes it.
And when the Mother dies
her middle-aged son
the baby grew up to be,
by her side
his head next to her head,
Follows her breathing with his breath
as it becomes shorter
and as the dying Mother
exhales her last breath
her son inhales it.
In the Spirit of T'ao Ch'ien
is an 84 page hand-sewn paperbook with spine - $16.00.
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Wheeler Hill
A chapbook released by Alan Casline's
Benevolent Bird Press.
From the book:
Morning in mid-June
Morning fog fills valley floor far below
white puffs obscuring view of narrow gulf.
Above eastern ridge, sun shines bright
hilltop clear, blue sky straight above.
Fields full of grass nearly waist high
waves of green sighing in gentle breeze.
No need to go off anywhere
what could top what's already here?
To order by mail, send $10 per book. Shipping is included in the price.
To order on-line through Paypal:
Wheeler Hill
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The Acadia Cycle
Currently not available.
A series of 12 poems, one for each month of the year, all set in Acadia National Park or on Mount Desert Island. These poems draw from almost four decades of experiences at Acadia, from first arriving with pack and thumb in 1971 to a 2009 hike up Cadillac Mountain with his younger son, Chapin.
This is a limited edition of 100 signed and numbered hand-made chapbooks published by Danny Kerwick's Simpatico Poets Press, New Orleans (2010).
The Acadia Cycle - $10.00
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Never Stop Asking
For Poems
Selected Works
Introduction
Sometime in 2007, at one of my readings, I mentioned that it has been forty years since writing my first poem. Dan Waber asked me if it was time to consider a “Selected Poems” book. I gave his question short shrift and didn't think much more about it.
Earlier this year, 2008, his question resurfaced in my mind. Maybe a case could be made for such a collection. A number of my chapbooks were out of print and some of the more popular poems I shared at my readings were never published in a book. Maybe those poems could form the core of a selected works collection, with a few others from throughout those decades added in to round it out a bit.
Thus, Never Stop Asking for Poems. The title is taken from a poem of mine that has never been published in a book but has been read often at readings throughout the country: “Liberty Street Poetry Reading, Bath, NY.” Chapbooks represented are the complete “Elegy for the Road, Kerouac's Ghost,” and selections from “Making Space for Others” and “Drinking Wine, Chanting Poems.” Also included is the first poem I read in public, in 1985 for the Bath Peace Group, “For the Natural Course of Events.” I've also selected a few poems from each decade that have never been seen in print form.
This book is only a small portion of the works I have written. It is a selected compilation. A collected works would be way beyond the possibilities of a book form. Included in Never Stop Asking for Poems are representative poems from throughout these many decades of writing.
I thank Mr. Kerr, my junior year high school English teacher, who was responsible for the first poem I ever wrote. I am, and will be, eternally grateful for the encouragement he gave me to continue writing poems. And I thank Dan Waber for first suggesting the idea of a selected works collection of my poetry. Dan, you were right, it's time.
* * * * * *
104 page paperback, hand-sewn, with flat spine.
$12.00
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Twenty Days On Route 20 3rd Printing Now Available!
In 1971, Michael Czarnecki bought a backpack, tent and sleeping bag, put out his thumb and over the next five years hitchhiked 30,000 miles through the northeastern United States and Canada. 25 years later, he again took off on the road, this time on a twenty day solo journey across America in an old, beat 1983 Honda Civic Wagon. Leaving family and friends behind, Michael set off to cross the country for the very first time.
Twenty Days on Route 20 chronicles that first time crossing of America. The account is written in haibun, a Japanese literary form combining condensed prose and haiku. Matsuo Basho, Japan's great 17th century haiku master, wrote his classic travel sagas in haibun. Now, more than 300 years later, Michael uses that same form to chronicle his pilgrimage across this vast continent.
Starting from Boston, Route 20 traverses the northern third of the country, through a varied American landscape: rolling hills of New York State; mid-America farmland and villages; sprawling, bustling Chicago; Mississippi and Missouri rivers; Nebraska sandhills; Wyoming plateau country; Yellowstone National Park; lava fields; high desert; Cascade Mountains and finally, the Pacific.
Michael barters for motel rooms, explores small towns, cities and countryside, gives poetry readings, encounters raven and coyote and observes the country slowly unfolding as the road leads forever west.
This second printing 10 years after the journey, contains some slight revisions of the original text and brings back into print a fascinating journey across America on the longest US Route in the country.
From the book:
As I sat eating my meal I began considering where I would sleep for the night. KC's Corner Restaurant & Motel - hmmm! This was a low budget journey and I couldn't be spending much money on places to sleep. The second night out was too early to succumb to the temptation of a soft, comfortable bed in a motel. Then one of those sudden inspirations came to me - why not barter for a room!
I hesitatingly walked up to the owner of KC's and explained my journey to him. I mentioned that I would be writing a book and that if he let me use a room for the night I would acknowledge KC's on the acknowledgement page and then give him enough books to cover the cost of the room. To my surprise he immediately accepted the offer! This spontaneous idea changed the whole character of the rest of the trip.
I had never done this before, barter writings for lodgings. Felt a little bit like Vachel Lindsay, the early 20th Century poet from Springfield, Illinois. I remember reading his work as a junior in high school and being excited to learn that he went on walking trips, exchanging rhymes for room and board. Poetry had real world value! So now, 30 years later, here I was in a comfortable room because of someone's willingness to accept written words for payment. Mr. Kerr, if only you could know how as a teacher you changed my life!
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Stopped at Hot Springs State Park in Thermopolis to soak in the Bath House. A 19th century treaty between the federal government and the Arapaho and Shoshone stipulated that the waters from this mineral spring be made available to the public for free. The 104 degree water in the Bath House can be enjoyed for 20 minutes without charge, so I rented a swimsuit, 75¢, and had a great soak for the allotted time.
mineral hot springs
Arapaho, Shoshone
my body thanks you
An employee at the Bath House told me they may start charging for use of the facilities. When I mentioned the treaty she said that the treaty was between the federal government and the natives. It's a state park now and they aren't bound by the treaty. It goes on and on and on.
*********************
ISBN 0-941053-01-6
76 page paperback, hand-sewn, with flat spine.
$12.00
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Sea Smoke and Sand Dollars
From the Introduction:
This book contains various writings of mine - poetry, prose poems, haibun, haiku - that are about Acadia or were written while living here. Some pieces are quite old, a few quite new. If fortunate, I suspect there will be many more pieces I'll write about this magical place - I hope to return many more times in the years to come, it's only been 33 and a half years since that first visit! Like I warn everyone who is thinking of coming here for the first time - nobody ever goes to Acadia just once!
November 20, 2004
Seal Harbor, Maine
From the book:
Written First Evening Upon Returning
To Mount Desert Island To Live
Full moon hangs over Champlain.
Across the way, snow covered
Cadillac, Dorr loom immense
above the frozen Tarn.
So many years away
and this first night back
feels so much like
coming home to stay.
Heading Back Home After Morning Walk To Post Office
Mid-morn, bright sun, lingering moon
crusty snow in thick-shaded woods.
Underneath spruce, fir, cedar trees
Stanley Brook sings over cold stones.
Red squirrel chatters from nearby rock
raven calls from above but can't be seen.
Contentment found in simple things
lone winter hike, not a soul in sight.
Morning Walk on Closed Park Road
Late year sun angles low over tall trees.
Road winds from shadows to sunlight to shadows.
Sudden gust shakes snow from high branch -
a million bright sparkles drift down, disappear.
68 page paperback, hand-sewn, with flat spine.
$10.00
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Simple Life, Simple Poems
Poems reflecting a simple life on Wheeler Hill - chopping wood, swimming in the pond, walking in winter storms, bread-making and going out into the world of friends.
From the book:
First Morning 2000
Early morning, woodstove
crackles, water kettle
hisses, old roosters
crow, cat on couch
sleeps, no big change
happens, new millennium no
different, same old simple
life.
52 page paperback, hand-sewn, with flat spine.
$10.00
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2nd printing!
From Paper Kite Press, Kingston, PA.
Zoo Haiku by Michael Czarnecki, May 2004,
$12.00 (includes shipping)
A whimsical and entertaining collection of haiku written about animals observed at a Minnesota Zoo. Illustrations by calligrapher Debra Dick.
(Scroll down the page to find the book)
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