We've had some warm, clear weather in the UK, and I've been working for a few days in rural Norfolk. The poetry I took to read was 'As Ever', the Collected Poems (not the new edition) of Joanne Kyger, whose poetry is full of the light and space of her Californian homeland, its mountains, deserts and ocean. Kyger's Buddhism is ever-present in her poetry. Although I wouldn't call myself a Buddhist, I'm interested in the teachings and practice. The problem with poetry 'about' a belief-system like this, is that it commonly descends into piety or religiosity. With Kyger it never does. She manages to embody in her lines and phrasing the thought-processes involved in gaining insights or states of mind, as in this untitled piece:

Is this the Buddha?
That individual will die
that day dream
Individual.
And you
secret one, watching, watching all the time
or at least some of it
in a set up from the wings
See the truly enlightened other. Thank you.
It's me.

The word 'individual' is repeated, and associated with day dream, unreality, but the poem, seemingly simple, blurs the identity of the speaker, and of the 'secret one' of line 6. Who is it who says "it's me" at the end? The Buddha/secret one, or the first voice, who asks "Is this the Buddha"? And the phrase "See the truly enlightened other", is it ironically aimed at the speaker herself, or is it a straight recognition of the Buddha/secret one/spiritual teacher? Of course, one can read this poem in several ways; what it does is to embody the difficulty of dealing with the self in Buddhist practice, while, at the same time, celebrating loss of self, especially in those beautiful lines:

That individual will die
that day dream
Individual.

Current reading:

'Migrations', the long, modernist poem by Mexican poet, Gloria Gervitz. Encompassing Mexican life, Jewish identity and the immigrant experience. And of course, it's by a woman, and the central relationships in the poem are mother/daughter/grandmother - a feminine presence, sometimes a real woman, sometimes an oracle or female deity, haunts the poem. The wide-format book gives it the space it deserves, and some pages with a few lines, even a single line, give it an impressive visual impact.

Selected poems of Joanne Kyger, seminal American West Coast poet, who seems to have influenced a lot of people, from the Beats to the New Yorkers, with her Buddhist poetry of immediate experience. The notebook is the typical vehicle here for conveying moment-to-moment perception with quietness and gentle humour.

Next week I'm on a business trip to the Nissan car plant at Sunderland, and a week today we're off on a family holiday to Devon and Cornwall. Currently trying to plan a route that avoids flooded areas, taking plenty of books to read and games to play, as there seems no end in sight to the rainy weather.