A Drifting Boat: Chinese Zen Poetry by Dennis Maloney

My Rating: ★★★★☆

All the poems are so well translated and seems to keep true to their original innocence and wonder. Each piece in this collection should be repeated multiple times to feel its true resonance – like the humming and the mumbling that these poets talk of when they talk of chanting poetry.

The gibbons chattering, the moonlight flowing over you, the soft wind caressing, the lofty mountains for friends, the white clouds playful all around and the other minute yet infinite details of a secluded life take special meaning in each repetitive but strangely innovative verse.

And of course, the boats keep drifting, empty, alone; filled only with the silver moonlight.

My favorite one:

River. Snow.

A thousand mountains.

Flying birds vanish.

Ten thousand paths.

Human traces erased.

One boat, bamboo hat, bark cape — an old man.

Alone with his hook. Cold river. Snow.

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