Zen Poetry The Art Of Lucien Stryk

Lucien Stryk has been a presence in American letters for almost fifty years. Those who know his poetry well will find this collection particularly gratifying. Like journeying again to places visited long ago, Stryk's writing is both familiar and wonderfully fresh. For those just becoming acquainted with Stryk's work, Zen, Poetry, the Art of Lucien Stryk makes an excellent introduction. It includes his early essay, \u201cThe American Scene Versus the International Scene,\u201d written shortly after his service in the Pacific during World War II, and \u201cDigging In,\u201d his first published poem, as well as some of his best-known pieces on Zen and Zen poetry. Among the latter are \u201cBeginnings, Ends,\u201d \u201cPoetry and Zen,\u201d \u201cI Fear Nothing: A Note on the Zen Poetry of Death,\u201d and his introduction to the great haiku poets, Issa and Basho. Selections of his most recent work include \u201cThe Red Rug: An Introduction to Poetry,\u201d and an imagined conversation among all four leading haiku poets called \u201cMeeting at Hagi-no-Tera.\u201d Porterfield's informative collection includes essays about Stryk's work as well as his own prose and poetry. As the volume makes clear, writing poetry is for Lucien Stryk a sacred act. It is both escape and communion, inseparable from life's daily activities.