A link to Stephen Burt’s essay on the “new thing” poetry. Or the new “thing poetry.” Need to reread it, but what I remember is, how grateful I am to find a name for what I’ve thought to be up to.
He sets as an epigraph a favourite passage by a favourite poet.
The self is no mystery, the mystery is
That there is something for us to
stand on.
– George Oppen, “World, World —”
Oh and just for funs, since I’m about to head back down to Samish for the last of Norman Fischer’s dharma talks, let’s put Oppen beside Dogen.
To study the Buddha Way is to study the self.
To study the self is to forget the self.
To forget the self is to be realized by the ten thousand things.
– Eihei Dogen
Grasses trees and broken bricks reach out to wake you up.
the art of compost 