The Dharma of Poetry: How Poems Can Deepen Your Spiritual Practice and Open You to Joy

by John Brehm

Discover how to engage with poetry to support your spiritual practice, leading to more mindfulness, equanimity, and joy.

In The Dharma of Poetry , John Brehm shows how poems can open up new ways of thinking, feeling, and being in the world. Brehm demonstrates the practice of mindfully entering a poem, with an alertness, curiosity, and open-hearted responsiveness very much like the attention we cultivate in meditation.

Complete with poetry-related meditations and writing prompts, this collection of lively, elegantly written essays can be read as a standalone book, or as a companion to the author’s acclaimed anthology, The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy .

Genres: Poetry, Buddhism, Nonfiction, Spirituality

184 pages, Paperback

Published January 26, 2021

Reviews

[Ken]

"It's difficult to resist the figuring-it-out mode, but that way of reading treats poems as little more than frustratingly elusive machines for delivering meaning, where the goal of reading a poem is not to experience it, not to enjoy it, or feel what it makes you feel, but to interrogate it until it coughs up a confession of the secret it has worked so hard to conceal. Such an approach robs poems of their aliveness and, paradoxically, makes our experiences of them less meaningful rather than more so."

That's John Brehm, author of this book, and I have to believe, if every reader had him as an English teacher in school, there'd be a much more robust readership for poetry. I mean, think of it: the freedom to experience, enjoy, and simply feel a poem by pointing out what you like about it and leaving it at that, thus downplaying the old game show routine of "I've got a secret and only the literary sleuths and White Tower types have the key."

Per the introduction, Brehm's goal is simple: "...poems embody and implicitly endorse ways of being in the world that anyone engaged in spiritual practice, or anyone wanting to live a more mindful life, might want to emulate."

Yes, he realistically admits that not every poem holds up to this approach, but many more do than you'd expect, especially those involving nature. You might also get a hint about Brehm's Eastern approach by looking at the title of another book of his, The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy. Thus, any poem that tackles the memento mori angle, the battle with self, the true meaning of mindfulness and its role in poetry.

Here Brehm takes up some relevant poems (including those by Frost, Ryokan, James Wright, Buson, Elizabeth Bishop, Saigyo, Wm Stafford, Denise Levertov, Rexroth, Ammons, Issa, Zagajewski, Konunyakaa, Chuang Tzu, Kay Ryan, Ellen Bass, and Walt Whitman), shares them, and approaches them in ways bringing the Dharma way to life. I suppose its best to provide an example poem with a few words that followed.


"The Niagara River"
by Kay Ryan

As though
the river were
a floor, we position
our table and chairs
upon it, eat, and
have conversation.
As it moves along,
we notice--as
calmly as though
dining room paintings
were being replaced --
the changing scenes
along the shore. We
do know, we do
know this is the
Niagara River, but
it is hard to remember
what that means.


Brehm takes himself to task at first, admitting, as he reads the poem, "I imagine other people heading blithely toward the falls. I unconsciously exempt myself from their situation and think: How can they be so oblivious? How can they forget that they're floating on not just any river but the Niagara River? But in fact they are aware of their situation, or at least they know the name of the river they're on. Ryan emphasizes it through repetition."

Making the point that we all accept death in an abstract sense while still somehow exempting ourselves from its realities, he goes on to say:

"The poem takes us to the heart of the issue, the challenge of penetrating the mind's automatic defenses, the challenge of not just noticing the river of unceasing change but understanding the meaning of that change, remembering where the flow of life will ultimately take us and living every day in the full awareness of the truth. We may also see that this is not merely a personal problem -- of realizing impermanence and living according to its laws and limitations -- but also a collective problem: the calamity we are surely headed toward if we cannot awaken from our dream of separation and regain a sense of the sacredness of the earth we are destroying. Civilization as we know it is headed toward the falls."

The book ends with some brief advice on teaching and five prompts. One thing that some might like better than others are a few time-outs between essays for meditation exercises. As I have seen many similar practices from other Buddhist readings, these pages were not as enjoyable as the poems and essays for me. For others, though, they might be just the ticket to drawing oneself closer to the world, to nature, and to our limited engagements on this stage (where our lives might be taken up with less important matters, often having to do with our egos).

Overall, a unique little book you might like.

[Anu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of the best poetry analysis I’ve read, precisely because the author cares less about analysing and more about experiencing the poems. Loath to pick favourites, but The River Niagara stayed with me even after many days.
This book was my favourite part of the day for many days. I read one poem a day, at bedtime, drifting off into a peaceful, ethereal world woven in poetry.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Challenge: For the Love of Poetry/2021 June-July Poetry. Brehm demonstrates that poetry should be experienced and felt rather than analyzed for academic or intrinsic meaning. He asks three simple questions: "What do you notice and appreciate about the poem? What feels lit up for you? What do you like about the poem"? Poems bring joy as mirrors, as ways to acknowledge and accept impermanence, as ways to get to know the objects around us better, and to dissolve our separateness from others and nature. It is not important to smartly define what the author meant, but to put oneself in the place of the author's experience through images or actions in the poem. The poem is solely a personal encounter. A companion book to Brehm's 'The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness and Joy'; both should be on the reading table of the poetry lover or devotional reader.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tainted, as many of us were, by the way poetry was handled in school, I’ve never been a comfortable reader of this genre. Brehm’s book is a wonderfully reassuring guide to how to enter a poem based on feeling rather than analysis. And it includes a number of poems that have been so meaningful they have stayed with me for many days.

[Amaris · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sweet little book! Such wonderful ways to engage with the enjoyment of a poem. This book will open you upto the world and tend to the expanses of your writing. It encourages us to bear witness: witness, everything!

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book on Listening deeper to poetry, based in Zen Buddhist philosophy. Highly recommend.

[Bret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved his earlier work - Brehm is a masterful selector of poems I appreciate - and the same great poetry is here. This one has fewer poems and is more of a light life manual for the reader to seek dharma. The meditations are great, and if I were a journaler, I would appreciate the writing prompts more...

[Ann Straight · Rating 4 out of 5]

I certainly respect many paths to the sacred and I find meditating on my breathing certainly brings me to now, this moment. It calms me. So I expected this book to open my emotional being to the sounds of poems and emotional-intellectual understanding of the meaning of the poems. When I googled Dharma I found it defined as righteous living, (Sikhs); or the cosmic law and order of Buddha.

I am eluded by most poetry. I would read it and say 1) "oh, I get that" or I say 2)" what was THAT about"? 3)"What did the poet intend? This book approaches in a gentle way... My questions were how do I feel?, what parts speaks to me?, do I feel taunted?, does meditation change the truth in it?, listen to its sounds: what are you reminded of?

The book had suggestive exercises that I found of value. It also prompted and encouraged me to try writing my own poetry.

As for my old responses to poetry: 1) "Oh I get that"- do I really see what I am called to see? Is there more? 2) "What was THAT about?"- How does it touch me? What is important to me? 3)."What does the author intend"? Like paintings, what is received may be different than what has been given.

[Eddie Easterling · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful little book that shows us how we can find dharma teachings within poetry. A lot of the problems I’ve had with poetry is the attitude that was instilled in me in high school and college literature classes: I must find the hidden meaning in each poetry. Brehm argues that this is not the case: we must read and observe and feel poems. He notes that words about poetry are like a finger pointing to the moon — if you get hung up on the finger, you’ll never see the moon. The same is true about Buddhism. Instead of relying on concepts and explanations, we must use and then transcend these by directly experiencing reality. I’m walking away from this book with a new excitement about reading poetry. Specifically, I plan to read the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop, Kenneth Rexroth, and various ancient Japanese and Chinese poets. Thank you, John Brehm.

[Kaye · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book in many places and may use some of the exercises in the back. I thought that the approach to group discussions outlined at the end had some flaws, though, so I docked a star — the author seemed too hyper-attentive to rooting out literary criticism. The example that was given of someone saying “I think this book is about WWII” about a poem with no apparent relation to others isn’t a pretentious lit crit thing. That’s someone having an associative memory experience that is just as revelatory as any other noticing reaction.

One of the more entertaining things about reading this book as a non-Buddhist was that mirrors mean something very different in Platonism, so that entire chapter was an experience in bridging perspectives.

[John Fredrickson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a curious mix of select poetry presentation and analysis, not from a poetic mechanics standpoint, but instead from the stance of investigating the ways that poetry can open one's spiritual pathways. I enjoyed the selected poems themselves, as well as the discussion of what each poem offers to readers.

The other thing that this book does is to use the poems to consider ways in which one's practice of meditation can be deepened or expanded. This is not something I attempted to do.

[Ron · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Brehm’s book, The Dharma of Poetry, shows how poems can be a door that takes us deeper into our spiritual lives. A beautiful weave of thoughtful essays and carefully selected poems offers a healing balm from the often overwhelming stress of today’s world. I keep this book and Brehm’s companion book; The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy, on my bedside table for daily inspiration and solace in difficult times. Read this book and settle into the quiet wisdom within.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Dharma of Poetry is a discussion about how some poems model Buddhist concepts such as self-forgetfulness, listening, and compassion. This is not literary criticism, but a discussion of the spiritual benefits of reading poetry. Also includes instructions for meditation and writing prompts. There is much to absorb and appreciate here. I will keep it in my reading pile for weeks to come.

[Kym · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little gem of a book about experiencing poetry . . . rather than trying to analyze and “understand” it (in that high school English class kind of way that turns most people off from poetry forever). There are also meditation practices, discussion leader suggestions, and writing prompts included. A nice addition to my poetry library.

[Diane Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the poems chosen here. The narrative was sometimes helpful, but the tone felt like a school essay. Also, again there are writing prompts and activity suggestions that are simply not my thing.

[Michele Block · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was lovely. I enjoyed the intersection of dharma & poetry. I particularly liked how the author encouraged getting inside the poem, experiencing it.

[Bill Mayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful. I hope this new book by John Brehm gets the wide circulation it deserves.

[Naomi Ayala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book I've read on the intersection of the practice of poetry and Zen.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book about experiencing poetry rather than analyzing rhythm schemes. Interwoven in the book are meditation practices and writing prompts. A true gem!

[Marc Mannheimer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seemed like an exercise in erudition. The cover is really nice, and the writing prompts in the back.

[Will McMillan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved- absolutely loved- this book.

[Rome Doherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the meditation exercises surprisingly useful and different.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not exactly what I expected but still lovely. It was more of a study of poetry rather than a collection although there are plenty of excellent poem selections.

[Eric Engleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for poets, readers and spirit seekers to have a deeper understanding of the importance of poetry in spiritual practice.