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In this extended episode I talk about the American poet, Charles Reznikoff, and about the two movements or trends in modern poetry with which he was associated - ‘imagism’ and ‘objectivism’ – and which help us to understand something of Reznikoff’s beliefs and approach as a poet. Please note: one of the poems quoted in the talk is titled, Holocaust, and contains disturbing verbatim accounts from the Nuremberg Military Tribunal of atrocities committed during the Second World War.

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In this episode I explore ideas about nirvana, awakening and what we mean by ‘the self,’ as described in the Buddhist traditions founded by Gotama Buddha - whom scholars reckon may have lived around 400 BCE. I suggest that awakening and ourselves are processes, rather than fixed states or things, and that we can cultivate them through mindful awareness or Zen meditation. Rather than being accessible only to a few people endowed with special powers, awakening is an art we can all learn and benefit from. I hope you will find it to be of interest, and maybe helpful, as you navigate along your own Dharma road.

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In this extended episode I talk about another American poet, essayist and environmental activist, Gary Snyder. You might like to take a break in the middle!

As I mentioned in Episode 34 both Snyder and Kenneth Rexroth explore the natural world in their work – literally, as hikers through the American landscape, and in their poetry and other writings. Snyder, who is now in his nineties, spent a lot of time with Rexroth in the 1950s and for a while Rexroth was something of a mentor to the younger poet.