Guest guest Posted May 27, 2009 Report Share Posted May 27, 2009 A poem sent to us with permission to post by Ivan Granger, the celebrated American Poet. Read his notes at the end if you are wondering what it's all about. Here's your Daily Poem from the Poetry Chaikhana -- At Tower Peak By Gary Snyder(1930 - ) Every tan rolling meadow will turn into housingFreeways are clogged all dayAcademies packed with scholars writing papersCity people lean and darkThis land most real As its western-tending golden slopesAnd bird-entangled central valley swampsSea-lion, urchin coastsSoutherly salmon-probes Into the aromatic almost-Mexican hillsAlong a range of granite peaksThe names forgotten,An eastward running river that ends out in desertThe chipping ground-squirrels in the tumbled blocksThe gloss of glacier ghost on slabWhere we wake refreshed from ten hours sleepAfter a long day's walkingPacking burdens to the snowWake to the same old world of no names,No things, new as ever, rock and water,Cool dawn birdcalls, high jet contrails.A day or two or million, breathingA few steps back from what goes downIn the current realm.A kind of ice age, spreading, filling valleysShaving soils, paving fields, you can walk in itLive in it, drive through it then It melts awayFor whatever sproutsAfter the age ofFrozen hearts. Flesh-carved rockAnd gusts on the summit,Smoke from forest fires is white,The haze above the distant valley like a dusk.It's just one world, this spine of rock and streamsAnd snow, and the wash of gravels, siltsSands, bunchgrasses, saltbrush, bee-fields,Twenty million human people, downstream, here below. -- from No Nature: New and Selected Poems, by Gary Snyder Amazon.com / Photo by Kiwi-Wings / ============ Thought for the Day: You don't acquire enlightenment;you recognize it. ============ Here's your Daily Music selection -- Autumn's Child featuring Mark Holland Born Out of Silence Listen - Purchase More Music Selections Hi Alan -I was born in a city, lived most of my life in urban environments. I know how real and all-encompassing that bustling, hard-shelled and angular world can seem. But at age 19 I discovered Thoreau, and I spent my 20s and early 30s seeking ways to live more deeply at home in the dark green embrace of forests and mountains. As a city boy born and bred, I was desperate not to lose my connection with what Gary Snyder here calls "This land most real."We humans are fundamentally creatures of community. We instinctively seek one another out and know ourselves through the eyes of our loved ones. But we must never forget that the worlds we create for ourselves, the ever more complex structures necessary to house the human social endeavor -- that it is all a human dream. It only has substance so long as it is well-rooted in the living reality of the natural world, which is home to us all. We must all regularly walk among trees and wild grasses and desert plains. Even in the city, we discover dandelions rising through cracked sidewalks, foxes and possums, and ancient streambeds still running through metal pipes. We need to remember the reality of the soil beneath our feet. In the midst of the human dream, pause periodically, take a deep breath, and remember what is real.We need that sense of the wild. Every human construction has a human purpose -- a good thing, in its place. And every human creation has a name. To dwell in human spaces is to be surrounded by words and definitions. But the world of nature affronts us by existing before human names and purposes, beyond them, in spite of them.Wake to the same old world of no names,No things, new as ever...Sure, you can name a tree, categorize it, safely identify it. But that tree exists, living the fullness of its quiet life, even if in its long history no man ever stood before it and labeled it a "pine." It knows itself already and mysteriously encounters the sun each day, nameless.I think this is what Gary Snyder is suggesting to us -- that this is one of the great lessons for humans encountering deep nature: the ability to remain nameless, to live dynamically and without the safety and limitation of definitions. When we stop naming and categorizing the world as we encounter it, we stop turning the world into a collection of "things." The moment an encounter becomes a "thing" to us, it is separated from us and on some level it is dismissed from our awareness. We have identified it, so we move on. But a thing unnamed is ever new to us, and not a thing at all; it startles us with its existence. Unnamed, it is not separate from us, and so it tells us of ourselves.A day or two or million, breathing...What do you think? A day for encountering the unnamed world...?IvanPS - Gary Snyder's poem also mentions "An eastward running river that ends out in desert..." Take a look at The Tale of the Sands on the Poetry Chaikhana Blog (link below). Unlike Snyder's river, this stream discovers the secret of how to traverse the desert. Share Your Thoughts on today's poem or my commentary... New on the Poetry Chaikhana BlogIn addition to the daily poem, other recent blog posts include: The Tale of the Sands - Encountering the desert, a stream must remember its true nature in order to pass beyond it. Our greatest difficulties become our most profound teachers. More Top 100 Poetry Blogs - Comments (3) I just got word that the Poetry Chaikhana Blog is listed in the Top 100 Poetry Blogs complied by Online University Reviews. More Story: The Story of Fire - Comments (3) A delightful Sufi story about the light of truth, the heat of human passions, while exploring questions of cultural memory, religious institutions, and how to pass on knowledge More Support the Poetry Chaikhana Donations to the Poetry Chaikhana in any amount are always welcome. Thank you! Click here You can also support the Poetry Chaikhana, as well as the authors and publishers of sacred poetry, by purchasing some of the recommended books through the links on this site. Thank you! Click here A small amount each month makes a big difference. Become a voluntary Subscriber for just $2/mo. Click here Help the Poetry Chaikhana reach more people. Become a Supporter for just $10/mo. Poetry Chaikhana HomeNew | Books | Music | Teahouse | About | ContactPoets by: Name| Tradition | Timeline Poetry by: Theme | CommentaryBlog | Forum | Facebook | Twitter www.Poetry-Chaikhana.com Poetry ChaikhanaP.O. Box 2320Boulder, CO 80306 Ivan M. Granger's original poetry, stories and commentaries are 2002 - 2008 by Ivan M. Granger.All other material is copyrighted by the respective authors, translators and/or publishers. ============ Plain Text: If you have any difficulty reading this HTML formatted email, please let me know and I can send you plain text emails instead. Cancelling: If you wish to stop receiving this Daily Poem email from the Poetry Chaikhana, simply reply to this email and change the Subject to "Cancel". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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