Desert: Poems

by David Hinton

The first collection of original poetry by the renowned nature writer and highly lauded translator of the Chinese classics.

Traveling today I
found a river
somewhere inside
me, wondered
 
how far it
wanders there
 
and how much
sky it
mirrors. All day
long, wind and desert


light, I
followed that river’s
distances . . . 
 
Weaving mind and landscape together in meditations on sky and wind, ridgeline and horizon, existence and self, Desert marks David Hinton’s first collection of original poetry in over a decade. Hinton’s poetic art has long shined brilliantly through his widely acclaimed Chinese translations—and here speaks for itself in his contemporary voice as he turns his attention to the transcendent landscape of the American West. Updating the philosophical insights of ancient China that Hinton has explored so deeply, these poems bring the wonder and ancient mystery of the desert landscape to light. Hinton demonstrated in The Wilds of Poetry how those ancient Chinese insights shaped the innovative American poetry of our time, and here he extends that tradition in poems that are spare and spacious, as vast and open as the desert itself.

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Paperback

Published July 10, 2018

About the author

David Hinton has published numerous books of poetry and essays, and many translations of ancient Chinese poetry and philosophy—all informed by an abiding interest in deep ecological thinking. This widely-acclaimed work has earned Hinton a Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous fellowships from NEA and NEH, and both of the major awards given for poetry translation in the United States: the Landon Translation Award (Academy of American Poets) and the PEN American Translation Award. Most recently, Hinton received a lifetime achievement award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Reviews

[C. Varn · Rating 3 out of 5]

My prior experience with Hinton is primarily as a translator of Chinese poetry, particularly Li Po. Hinton's own work is strongly influenced by this Chinese minimalism, but it also has a conversational focus. Despite the influence of controlled Chinese verse on Hinton, these book is primarily three short-lived, but long meditative poems on the Desert as a both reflective of the natural world and a microcosmic view of nature itself. Hinton has a tendency for interesting but prosaic interjections into the poems, which show his thought process, but also can seeming interrupt the language of his poems. Examples are this, "We're so much more than what we are," and "Everything heals from the inside out." Statements that don't quite feel poetic enough nor actually uniquely insightful enough to justify their intrusion upon the poems. Yet Hinton's attention to American desert is often inspiring and truly acute. This leads to a highly uneven and sprawling book.

[Joseph Spuckler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Desert: Poems by David Hinton is the translator's first collection of original poetry. Hinton is a writer and translator who has produced bodies of work exploring the weave of consciousness and landscape. His previous works are insights of ancient Chinese culture; and have primarily taken the form of translation, which he uses as a way to make contemporary poetry that operates outside the limitations of self-identity and the Western intellectual tradition.

Desert captures life and the universe in the desert landscape. To many, the desert is a lifeless void yet to others the desert is filled with wonder. The water that erodes the landscape in brief and sudden appearances goes unseen but leaves its marks everywhere. The mountains stand guard alone and appear older than time itself. There is also an emptiness that mimics the vast emptiness of space itself. The desert speaks volumes on life if one can only listen. Hinton takes his experience of the desert and puts it into words for those who have never been.

The desert represents many things to Hinton.  The mountains are ages of memory extending back millions of years. They also represent the loneliness of standing singularly in the vast desert.  The horizon extends forever.  It is a journey. 

It’s a long way
from me to

you, so much
light and space. I
set out

here, nothing much
to say, mostly curious
what might
happen along
the way.

The desert provides many things to the traveler.  It provides an examination of life and contemplation on how one's life was lived and, perhaps, a call to live life over again.  It is a place of peace where little is said and much is understood.  It is a microcosm of the entire cosmos.  We are small and it is vast beyond our comprehension; we are vulnerable to its environment.  We stand in awe of the sheer size and space of the desert.  Hinton transposes his knowledge of Chinese culture and gives it a Native American feel.  One can easily imagine standing in the Mojave. I have found myself there before in awe of the initial emptiness, then slowly seeing life, geology, and an ecosystem, something far greater than it first appears.  It almost like a child lying awake at night, staring at the heavens, and imagining the vastness of space.  One becomes absorbed into the environment and becomes a conscious part of it. 

A breathtaking collection of poetry.  Hinton adds to the feeling by breaking apart the sections by several pages of almost empty space.  The pages have a thin blurry line that is not uniform.  It leaves the reading wondering if he or she is looking at a vast horizon or the edge of the universe.  A remarkable collection of poetry.  One of the best new collections I have read. 

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Summer 2018, Netgalley ARC:

Thank you to David Hinton, Shambhala Publications, Inc., and NetGalley for this advanced copy of “Desert: Poems” for an honest review.

I was very interested when it was announced that David Hilton, the highly lauded translator of Chinese classics, would be producing his own book of poetry. I think open this book I expected it to be a collection of poems, but very quickly I found myself in a landscape of a desert that was epic more than snippets.

It reminded me of the great old epics and ballads. This is a land influence and referential to Homer, and Whitman, and the Chinese Classics that are his background. It’s a journey through sky, and sand, and parchedness, as well as the human mind, heart, and soul. I will definitely be buying copies of this for my poet friends.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected this to be a collection of poems, but it is 3 long poems highlighting the microcosm of desert life within the larger macrocosm of the earth and life overall. It's obvious that Hinton loves deserts and all the stark beauty, desolation, life and wonder that they contain. With his descriptive phrasing and flowing writing, it's easy to see the desert through his eyes and experience.

Memorable phrases: "We're so much more than what we are." "Things happen, keep happening year after year, and they define who I am as they vanish into earth and sky." "Everything heals from the inside out."

Many thanks to NetGalley and Shambhala Publications, Inc. for allowing me to read and review an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest opinion.

[Patti K · Rating 3 out of 5]

David Hinton, the well-respected Chinese translator of many ancient poets
published in 2018 a collection of his own work. The tone and mood of his
times in the desert are evocative and philosophical. You know he has studied
Chinese poetry very extensively. There is a Buddhist appeal to many of them.
There was far too much repetition however that diluted their overall power.
Maybe he decided to use a desert of vocabulary to express the vast, empty
silence over and over again. Agreeable, but that is all.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Hinton is best known as a translator of classic Chinese poetry like Li Po. This collection, however, is his own original poetry. While clearing influenced by the poets he translates, he has own his voice. He explores the desert landscape as a meditation on the vast terrain of his thoughts and philosophies. I look forward to more of his original work.

[I received an advanced e-galley of this through Netgalley. The book is due to be published July 10, 2018.]

[Therese L. Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are nourished by classical Chinese poetry, as I am, you will be transfixed by this English-language account of the poet's own solo pilgrimage through the desert. I suggest that you read these spare yet eloquent poems in solitude, in the most quiet location available to you, lingering over each page, inhaling at the start of each line and exhaling at the end.

[J.D. DeHart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Poet David Hinton takes us on a modern-day verse epic. Packing pages with verse that build on one another, Desert breaks only every now and then. It's a journey through life and experience told in a lyrical fashion from an accomplished poet. Recommended for verse lovers.