Poetry is the Zazen of the Day
The Poetry of Zen
The discovery of poetics and its continued exploration has been an amazing part of my experience here at Columbia College Chicago.
What is poetry, is a question I will most-likely be unable to answer—at least for someone else.
But I truly believe it is important to constantly interrogate our own poetics, to read as much as we can—for enjoyment, for discovery, and to support fellow artists. Even the books I end up disliking often have the most to teach me about myself and the world. I must constantly remember that each book is merely another lens of the world. And as the great novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie says, the danger is in a single story.
I remember reading David Trinidad’s “Dear Prudence” the summer before coming to Chicago, and then going to the Barnes and Noble and buying every book of poetry I could find, which was not a large collection. However, I knew then, and still believe, that reading is our greatest educator. I am currently teaching a beginning workshop in poetry, and I adapted the method of bringing in several new books of poetry each week to share with my students (I took this practice from Michael Robins). I have told my students that the greatest lesson I can impart on them, is allowing them a chance to read a breadth of different poetic voices and styles. The greatest honor an artist can give another artist is to mimic their work, and in the process find their own voice or avenue by which to forge ahead.
Gary Snyder was recently at Columbia College Chicago and he joked that, “the quantity of notable poetry in this English language is finite, and that one could read it all in a few months.”
Reading Gary Snyder!
And he’s right, at least in terms of that which preceded us. However, after coming to Columbia College Chicago I also became aware of the independent publishing and small press scene. I began reading the poetry of our time, which is not finite, and an ever growing creation of words and thought.
Among all of this, I have been asked to find my poetics, my voice, and what poetry I want to put out in the world. I believe this will always be an evolution for me as a poet, but if you were wondering what my specific poetics are, they revolve around my zen practice. For me, “Poetry is the zazen of the day—the moving-body-still-mind meditation that occurs with an object or moment. We are all already zazen. Sitting down just helps us realize it.” This is a sort of mantra I have developed for my poetics, and my way of approaching the poem.
Putting a branch-poem on rice paper!
My sort of advice or wisdom for anyone entering the MFA life, or anyone out there beginning the journey of poetry, is to read the “quantity of notable poetry,” and then begin discovering the world of small presses and poetry that is out there. My formula is, find my favorite poets, find their presses, and then discover all the other great books being written.
Here are a small select few , but if you have the chance, you should attend an AWP conference if you want to discover the true landscape of literary presses: