"Everything Changes, Everything is Connected, Pay Attention”: The Poetry of Jane Hirshfield

In this new Peacemakers Podcast episode, poet and Zen practitioner Jane Hirshfield sits down with Geoff O’Keeffe for a luminous, grounded conversation about how poems—and practice—help us meet a fractured world. From her seven-word distillation of the dharma (“Everything changes. Everything is connected. Pay attention.”) to the vow that undergirds compassionate action, Jane invites us into a way of seeing that is precise, permeable, and tender.

Together we travel through themes of Questioning, Being Still, Bearing Witness, Stepping Forward, Failing, and Listening—touching poems such as “After Long Silence,” “Let Them Not Say,” “Like Others,” “Changing Everything,” and the wry kitchen-table parable of a frozen egg. Along the way, Jane reflects on why witnessing itself is a form of action, and how abiding in Not-Knowing helps keep our responses spacious and humane. We hear of fires faced (or sometimes fled), of vows renewed, and of the small, almost invisible gestures that can ripple outward—poetry as a way to not despair and to remain in love with the world.

The Asking: New & Selected Poems (Knopf, September 12, 2023)https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/715681/the-asking-by-jane-hirshfield/

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Show Credits:

* Speakers: Jane Hirshfield & Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe

* Recording Date: April 24, 2024

* Hosts: Geoff Shōun O’Keeffe, Jim Hōden Fricker

* Audio & Video Editing/Engineering: Jim Hōden Fricker

* Event Coordinators: Clotilde Wright, Geoff Shōun O'Keeffe

* Original Video: HERE

More From Jane Hirshfield

https://poets.org/text/blaney-making-invisible-visible (text)

New Profile/Conversations:

McSweeney's, with Ilya Kaminsky: https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/jane-hirshfield

The Nation, with Wen Stephenson: https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/while-this-all-over-crying/

Interviews:

EZRA KLEIN SHOWOpinion | What a Poetic Mind Can Teach Us About How to Live - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

TRICYCLE https://tricycle.org/magazine/jane-hirshfield-poetry/

ORIONOrion Magazine - Jane Hirshfield Answers the Orion Questionnaire

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