Overtime: Selected Poems

by Philip Whalen

Like his college roommate Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen took both poetry and Zen seriously. He became friends with Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac , and Michael McClure , and played a key role in the explosive poetic revolution of the '50s and '60s. Celebrated for his wisdom and good humor, Whalen transformed the poem for a generation. His writing, taken as a whole, forms a monumental stream of consciousness (or, as Whalen calls it, "continuous nerve movie") of a wild, deeply read, and fiercely independent American—one who refuses to belong, who celebrates and glorifies the small beauties to be found everywhere he looks. This long-awaited Selected Poems is a welcome opportunity to hear his influential voice again.

Genres: Poetry

311 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1999

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.

Philip Whalen was born in Portland, Oregon on October 20, 1923. He roomed with future poets Gary Snyder and Lew Welch at Reed College in Oregon.

Whalen did not pursue a career in poetry, but fell into it after Snyder asked him to take part in the famous Six Gallery poetry reading in 1955. A good portrait of Whalen, Snyder's slightly older and chubbier Zen-poet friend, appears in 'The Dharma Bums' by Jack Kerouac (the character's name is Warren Coughlin).

Like Snyder and Kerouac, Whalen took Buddhism very seriously, and also like them he found spiritual enlightenment as a fire lookout in the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest. Whalen published many highly respected works of poetry, as well as two novels, "You Didn't Even Try" and "Imaginary Speeches for a Brazen Head". He was ordained as a Zen monk in 1973. He suffered from severe eyesight problems in his later years. He lived as a Buddhist in San Francisco until he died on June 26, 2002.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_...

Reviews

[Naomi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many of the poets I read are writing explicitly within spiritual traditions and practices. Whalen's Buddhist-influenced poems are, like Gary Snyder's, accessible to those outside Buddhist traditions, and also very much ways of practicing mindfulness. This is a fine collection, and would be a nice accompaniment for a spiritual writing group.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Whalen's poems balance religion, philosophy and cranky Zen insight with a casual, conversational Americanese in a way few of his more famous contemporaries could touch. He draws from a deep past that embraces everything from ancient Chinese verse to European classical music, but makes all the erudition parade down the street in T-shirt and jeans. His particular brand of Buddhism, so generous to human failings (starting always, comically, with his own) and never, ever doctrinaire, has to be one of the most attractive spins on Eastern religion I've read. The moment gets plenty of wiggle room in his writing, so that cats, friends and silly thoughts can all stray into the poems without being shoo'd out for the sake of art. Whatever Beat meant, Whalen shows it in about its best light. Poetry's a little thinner and more straight-laced with him gone.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A latecomer to Whalen, pretty stupid of me. He is something else.

[Elliot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this more than i expected at first. The poetry at first can be a little hard to get into - it’s somewhat stream of consciousness, beat-era poetry so Whalen throws a lot of images, sounds, etc at the reader, seemingly out of context, but they really add to the texture/fabric of the poems.

In general the poems have an interesting sense of duality/multidisciplinary quality. They traverse memory and consciousness, eastern and western spirtituality, and the natural and the manmade.

My favorite was undeniably Birthday Poem. I have a soft spot for long, sprawling poems (shout out to another favorite - Schuyler’s Morning of the Poem). It’s become some of the poetry I most enjoy reading, and i the kind of stuff i would like to replicate as a writer.

4.5, highly recommended

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

perfect for when the baby has sucked your mind dry. Will bring you back to life, peace, and then even inspiration, if given a chance. So the cover photo of his later life as a monk is very suitable.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read most, but not all, of this for a poetry class. Enjoyed a lot of the poems, but had a hard time getting into many as well.