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What Book!?: Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop
An instant classic, now in its 6th printing, this visionary project gathers intersections of the Buddha and the Bard from 1950–today. Topics included the Three Jewels, pacifism, social engagement, innovation, nature, song, and silence. What Book? contains forms ranging from picture poems and calligraphy, guided meditations, and journals, to conceptual and performance art, arias, and haiku. Contributors include Beats, Fluxists, kids, luminous obscure, Nobel Laureates, zen priests, veterans ...
O taste & see
O taste & see
.:.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
14 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Gary Gach
14 books93 followersGeneralist.
¿ Books ?
Clerk, 2nd-hand bookshop, 8 years. Book designer / typesetter, 3 years. Book editor, 1 year. Associated with a few books* with someone's name on them identical to mine; managed not to repeat myself, as yet.
Middle school years in Hollywood commemorated by classmate James Ellroy ("Let's Twist Again"). BA + 1 year (UCLA - SFSU). Moved to San Francisco 45 years ago, where have been living since, where facilitating weekly mindfulness practice ( ... stop ... breathe ... smile ... ... ... go slow ... ... ).
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*
E.G. ————— as author, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Buddhism; editor, What Book Buddha Poems from Beat to Hiphop; co-translator, Ten Thousand Lives, Flowers of a Moment, and Songs for Tomorrow: A Collection of Poems, 1961–2001, all by Ko Un.
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: swimming in the Bay, blue skies, calligraphy, cooking, generosity, bestfriends, awakening wisdom, the heart of love
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May all beings be well.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
November 5, 2016
Mr. Gach is on goodreads and mentioned his book, so I thought I'd get it out from the library and see what I thought. Those that know me can attest that I'm not really much of an alternative religion person so I wasn't sure if I'd care for this at all. It's not that I don't think eastern religions are invalid or anything, it's just that I don't really see myself as the calm, meditative type. Hell, I can barely settle down long enough to write a review. So I had no idea if this was going to work for me at all.
The interesting thing, and much to the editor's credit, is that it not only worked for me, it works as great anthology of solid poems. Ranging from anonymous nuns to Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, with some Thomas Merton thrown in for good measure, Gach has provided the reader with a wide range of reflective poems, without going so far into the religious aspect of things as to turn off a reader that's not of the faith. In addition, he put in place two different ideas for collecting the poems that I thought worked perfectly for the collection.
First, the poems flow into each other. If a poem is only a few lines long, the next poem begins immediately after it, not waiting for the next page to tell its tale. There is no lost white space to lose the flow of the poetry. Like creeks into streams into rivers, they flow together from one page to the next. While this would not work for all anthologies it just seems to me to be perfect for a book like this one.
Secondly, there are no firm chapter breaks. Instead, Gach puts a little footer on each page which changes as the theme of the poems do. Since the poems all ebb and flow together, I rarely cared about the change, only looking at it from time to time if I saw a new theme developing.
But perhaps the best part of this anthology is the variety of the poems themselves. There's free verse, of course, but also prose poems, haiku (quite a bit of haiku, actually, pound for pound), verse, poetic conversations, and even a little written artwork, reproduced as clearly as possible in a small trade. There's experimental work side by side with more traditional poetic forms, with no consideration as to what's better or worse. If they fit the theme, they show up. To my mind, that's how to make a good anthology--keep the poetry different enough, yet true to the theme. Otherwise, monotony can set in.
I opted not to pull any particular poems for the review because of the difference in writing styles. It would be impossible to give a reasonable sample within in the scope of this space. If you are looking for a collection of reflective poetry in all shapes and sizes, I think you'll dig this one. What recommendation? Mine. (Library, 02/08)
The interesting thing, and much to the editor's credit, is that it not only worked for me, it works as great anthology of solid poems. Ranging from anonymous nuns to Alan Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac, with some Thomas Merton thrown in for good measure, Gach has provided the reader with a wide range of reflective poems, without going so far into the religious aspect of things as to turn off a reader that's not of the faith. In addition, he put in place two different ideas for collecting the poems that I thought worked perfectly for the collection.
First, the poems flow into each other. If a poem is only a few lines long, the next poem begins immediately after it, not waiting for the next page to tell its tale. There is no lost white space to lose the flow of the poetry. Like creeks into streams into rivers, they flow together from one page to the next. While this would not work for all anthologies it just seems to me to be perfect for a book like this one.
Secondly, there are no firm chapter breaks. Instead, Gach puts a little footer on each page which changes as the theme of the poems do. Since the poems all ebb and flow together, I rarely cared about the change, only looking at it from time to time if I saw a new theme developing.
But perhaps the best part of this anthology is the variety of the poems themselves. There's free verse, of course, but also prose poems, haiku (quite a bit of haiku, actually, pound for pound), verse, poetic conversations, and even a little written artwork, reproduced as clearly as possible in a small trade. There's experimental work side by side with more traditional poetic forms, with no consideration as to what's better or worse. If they fit the theme, they show up. To my mind, that's how to make a good anthology--keep the poetry different enough, yet true to the theme. Otherwise, monotony can set in.
I opted not to pull any particular poems for the review because of the difference in writing styles. It would be impossible to give a reasonable sample within in the scope of this space. If you are looking for a collection of reflective poetry in all shapes and sizes, I think you'll dig this one. What recommendation? Mine. (Library, 02/08)
May 5, 2012
Picked it up at the library to read while the kids were messing around on the computer, ended up checking it out and bringing it home. It had a lot of unique, interesting poems on Buddha/Buddhism. Loved it! Was a quirky little book of poetry. I read some of the poems to the kids and they were inspired to write a few poems down too.
July 1, 2018
Morning Meditations
I keep this book in my breakfast nook.
A great way to start the day.
Such great thoughts and words
I keep this book in my breakfast nook.
A great way to start the day.
Such great thoughts and words
February 3, 2023
My absolute favourite book of poetry so far! Ethereal, these poems fill me with peace and calm, and expand my mind at times, then focus it on detail with such precision that I forget where I am or what time of day it is.
September 23, 2020
Quite a mixed bag of aphorisms, short prose, and (mostly) poetry. To be expected. Some gems here, though, and much of the work isn't explicitly Buddhist. A good book to read in from time to time.
January 13, 2008
B Book of poems (inc many of my former teachers!) focused on Buddha and Buddhism.
December 11, 2007
350 works by 125 contributors
"from beat to hiphop" = 1950 to today, rather than particular "style(s)"
took gary gach 5 years to gather, collate, edit
went through 4 printings & received 1 american book award
now publisher makes it available as print-on-demand from amazon, unless demand picks up in which case publisher might pay for another printing
website: http:word.to/whatweb.html
"from beat to hiphop" = 1950 to today, rather than particular "style(s)"
took gary gach 5 years to gather, collate, edit
went through 4 printings & received 1 american book award
now publisher makes it available as print-on-demand from amazon, unless demand picks up in which case publisher might pay for another printing
website: http:word.to/whatweb.html
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews