Beneath a Single Moon: Buddhism in Contemporary American Poetry

by Kent Johnson (Editor)

Beneath a Single Moon is an extraordinary collection of the work of forty-five contemporary American poets—with over 250 poems and thirty essays on the influence of spiritual practice on the practice of poetry. Included are works by John Cage, Diane di Prima, Allen Ginsberg, Jane Hirshfield, Andrew Schelling, Gary Snyder, Anne Waldman, and others.

Genres: Poetry, Buddhism, Religion

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Kent Johnson (born 1955) is an American poet, translator, critic, and anthologist. His work, much of it meta-fictional and/or satirical in approach, has provoked a notable measure of controversy and debate within English-language poetry circles.

Reviews

[Tom Booker · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this instance, I rate the book what I think it deserves rather than my actual enjoyment of it!

There is a great selection and variety of poets in this book. I really like basically all the essays, but a lot of the poetry I had no idea about.

The idea is that Buddhism brings more of an attitude or a method to poetry, rather than much of the poetry explicitly being about Buddhism.

[Rwildfon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fine collection of poems written by practicing Buddhists from various traditions with intros about and by the authors as to their connection with meditation practice and poetry - a real mix of poetry from haiku to classically based to totally free verse with some of my favorite poets - Gary Snyder, Jane Hirshfield, Sam Hamill, a wonderful commentary by Jim Harrison on his work - - makes one want to start from nothing, again, and again.