Club: Granddaughter Poems

by Coleman Barks, Briny Barks (Illustrator)

Was ever a grandfather so enchanted by his granddaughter? Poet and Rumi translator Barks writes with aching tenderness and wonder of her precocious observations and behavior. Besides contributing inspiration, Briny painted the flowers on the cover and 17 "combination animals" inside.

78 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2001

About the author

Coleman Barks is an American poet. Despite the fact that he admittedly speaks no Persian, he is world-renowned as a translator of Rumi and other mystic poets of Persia. Barks taught literature at the University of Georgia for three decades. He makes frequent international appearances and is well-known throughout the Middle East. Barks's work has contributed to an extremely strong following of Rumi in the English-speaking world. Due to his work, the ideas of Sufism have crossed many cultural boundaries over the past few decades. Coleman Barks received an honorary doctorate from Tehran University in 2006.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda and I are getting ready to welcome our first grandchild in early April. This small collection of found poems by Coleman Barks ( he of The Complete Rumi fame) and illustrations by his granddaughter Briny Barks provided a whimsical rolling start to that project. I remember hearing Barks read several of these poems at the Dodge Poetry Festival in 2004 or 2006 (?) and stating that he pretty much just made it his business to follow Briny around and jot down whatever she said.

The result may not please everyone but the made for several hours of laughter and that best tribute of all: Linda or I shushing one or the other and insisting, "Turn off the T.V. You've got to hear this!"

Lines like, "Grandaddy look what I found behind the sofa. What. / My conscience She lifts up her jaunty conscience, / a set of bow legged plastic legs, half a cowboy.

Or:

Getting undressed for her bath.
lying on her back on the bed, kicking
and twisting her underwear off, down
to one foot aloft twirling the cotton
pants around, she says, "I've got
underwear flags of injustice."