From "Lookout to Ashram: The Way of Gary Snyder": Part Two (Concluded)

Transcription

1 The Iow Review Volume 1 Issue 4 Fll Article From "Lookout Ashrm: The Wy Gry Snyder": Prt Two (Concluded) Shermn Pul Follow this dditionl works t: Prt Cretive Writg Commons Recommended Cittion Pul, Shermn. "From "Lookout Ashrm: The Wy Gry Snyder": Prt Two (Concluded)." The Iow Review 1.4 (1970): Web. Avilble t: This Contents is brought you for free open ccess Iow Reserch Onle. It hs been ccepted for clusion The Iow Review n uthorized dmistrr Iow Reserch Onle. For more formtion, plese contct lib-ir@uiow.edu.

2 From Lookout Ashrm: The Wy Gry Snyder Shermn Pul prt two (conclusion) Riprp (1959), Snyder's first book, lredy fulfills some se ends. The title declres humble yet exctg rt service thgs ex perience; it nmes bck country book tht will be foundtion for ors. The itil poem, "Mid-August t Sourdough Mount Lookout," estblishes elevtion he seeks, "cler, ttentive md," "Piute spoken Creek," tht "Hs no meng but tht / Which sees is truly seen." Except for "T-2 Tnker Blues," none is Bet, this is Bet only virtue n looseng orwise tight form n doptg explicitly orl sted n ner, mode. Robert Swrd's s medittively spoken impression "restred reltively forml," quiet "prt" ne, is just?se possess much stillness. All m re or ubiogrphicl confessionl Whitmn sense defed Robert Bly: y embody " pervdg presence poet who shres simultneously processes life revels some its meng through his ctions." re They rrnged chronologiclly, so follow development recorded journls,, like with journls, only more concentrtion, tret first excursions bck y country ttempt truly hbit it. Nothg ntedtg lookout period is cluded; only lter will poet remember immedite pst which se, especilly first, put behd him. There must hve been erlier worthy clusion, for poet se is well-prcticed his rt. But none is cluded becuse Riprp, like journls, represents decisive begng. He is bck country: beyond bstrction senstion, s "Wter" "Th Ice"; timebound beyond present timeless primordil reches time, s "Miln Firelight" "Above Pte Vlley"; beyond Western romnce mysteries Goddess, s "Prise for Sick Women" "For Fr-Out Friend." his Beyond society, re wilderness, se, old countries. Beyond self, need y no reticence. Some mentioned re lredy notble, "For Fr-Out especilly Friend" "Piute Creek," even though former is mrred wek endg ltter phrse, "bubble hert." The centrl poem, one best, long with openg closg, is "Nooksck Vlley." Plced mid-wy, it represents turng-pot wrd world "A Sne Grden," longer poem tht my be sid nswer it. 70 University Iow is collbortg with JSTOR digitize, preserve, extend ccess The Iow Review

3 "Nooksck Vlley" is medittive poem tht moves with poet's thought hs free form tht typifies his work. The dented uncpitlized sen tences re not unusul; y suggest wy thoughts, lredy flow, enter md. Sentences, s Chrles Olson remds us defendg non-sentences, rep resent completed thought. But completed thought this poem is poem, ll tht hppens md durg short time it tkes het cfee. At fr end trip north In cb berry-pickers At edge wide muddy field Stretchg woods cloudy mounts, Feedg sve ll fternoon with cedr, Wtchg drk sky drken, heron flp, A huge setter pup np on dusty cot. High rotten stumps second-growth woods Flt scttered frms bends Nooksck River. Steelhed run now week I go bck Down 99, through wns, Sn Frncisco All Americ south est, Twenty-five yers it brought trip-sp where I turn Md-pot, more on this l?rock tree Cught mn, Awke, thn ever before, yet leve. redy dmned memories, Whole wsted ories, filures worse success, Schools, girls, dels, try get To mke this poem froth, pity. A ded fiddle for lost good jobs. cedr wlls Smell our frm-house, hlf built '35. Clouds sk down hills Cfee is hot g. The dog Turns turns bout, sps sleeps. Jpn. Hvg gone bck sy goode north country, poet fds himself lscpe tht confronts him with experience loylties his lifetime. Yet, s form poem dictes, very tht wkens his settg gi ttion clms it. It does so? this, I thk, ccounts for chievement? poem's becuse more deeply he enters it more deeply it terpenetrtes him. The trip north, presumbly fish for steelhed, hs reched "fr end." (One thks Hemgwy t Big Two-Herted River. ) The poet is not elted but depressed pssive, doors, drk drken...." The so "Wtchg sky lscpe, crefully described, with loneless corresponds poet's feelgs hevess, cold ness drkness; it conts his pst summons it turng, nguish, t center poem, tht is never fully dmitted md becuse 71 Criticism

4 it rems bstrct terms. But very l tht clls up "dmned memories" is bck country he loves ("Cught more on this l"), knowg it, s he now knows it here, is wht hs wkened him mde him reject (g) lures civiliztion. Wht keeps "Schools, girls, dels" from gettg destroyg poem is powerful objectivity his present sitution, reliztions he hs prticulr it, smell cedr t end, pervsive, pene trnt, tht revives his erliest memory home, child's unspoiled sustg world which he begn which, however fr wy he goes, he cn return. memory The g poem expresses his ttchment proundest this bck even s country he prepres leve it for nor. The country which he is " sne se." goes Jpn, gret grden And poem tht nme, sne his own four grden composed lrge blocks poetry, he trets his discovery re love, fmily, home. Judged few on Jpn, this is wonderful rewrd his ex perience. "Toji" tells unusul cceptnce ("Nobody bors you Toji") "Kyo: Mrch" lovers beneth ros frosty houses, who from wrm prt, tngle Of gentle bodies under quilt And crck icy wter fce And wke feed children And grchildren tht y love. Love this kd, tendered this wy, is t hert "A Sne Grden." In first stnz poet hs wkg drem immemorilly gr dened l, drem while on tr him from pst--present, crryg countryside city? Tokyo, where, "like ber," he trcks " humn future / Of His wreness telligence despir." culture, form, mstered chieved centuries ecology cre, contrsts with urbn jungle hbited "A horde excess poets unwed..." Yet where girls. city, he "wlked hundred nights" (this stnz begs with recollection " girl I thought I knew," perhps "Rob" lter,, like first which bespeks restlessness, bespeks loneless) he observes The thous postures ll humn fond Touches gestures, glidgs, nude, The oldest nkedest women more sweet, And sw re first old wired brests Without n wrd wil sorrow dismy Becuse impermnence destructiveness time In truth mens women only, lovely ge But with noble glnce I AM LOVED From children from crones, time is destroyed. Such love conquers time?his own rre sight beuty old women convces us this. But it does this lso becuse it venertes fertile mystery 72

5 upon which, poet's view, this culture is built susted through ll vicissitudes, mystery he ssocites with "glitterg smelly ricefields," permnence nture. His own voction this power?"o Muse, goddess gone stry"?follows third stnz, where, tellg difficulties poem he would write ( "one time true" ), he confesses filure : The long-lost hwk Ykmochi Thoreu Flits over yonder hill, h is bre, The noise livg fmilies fills ir. Yet flly he writes tht poem fourth stnz, which, like ors, follows from somethg he medittes on?"wht becme child we never hd-": Delight bds mn birth, deth,?let's home?for soon we gr prt? (The dughter is school, son's t work) & silver fish-scles cot h, bord; The chrcol glowg underneth eves, Squttg fnng til rice is stemed, All our friends children come et. This never dies. mrrige Delight Crushes it down builds it ll g With flesh wood sne, The womn re?she is not old or young. The urge trnscend " noise livg fmilies," grsp hwk or turtle dove is poetry, wht this poem subdues. Sometimes flwed syntx, cdence, rhyme, poem is neverless importnce Snyder's development: he would even relquish self-love poetic mbition serve willgly Muse tht so deeply spires him mkes love, fulfilled community culture, wy enlightenment. Although it ws published fter Riprp, Myths 6- Texts (1960) ws written concurrently, durg yers It is most mbitious Snyder's book, work 48 untitled three closely relted prts comprisg sgle me design developg destruction-cretion-renewl. few Only re mde s well s best re Riprp; y generlly looser, ir Pound form more obvious. But tken s one contuous ger, re n poem, chievement. Their y impressive title, & Myths Texis?probbly tken from such erly ethnologicl reports s John R. S wnn's "Hid Texts Myths" "Tlgit Myths Texts"?describes kd lore which Snyder, sometimes himself shmn, ssimiltes his poetry. In first shmn song he speks his work: I sit without thoughts log-rod new Htchg myth 73 Criticism

6 But if myth is new it is so for se resons: it is knitted now old myths (Biblicl, Greek, Orientl, Americn Ind) creted new poetry. To go bck, repossess, know mterils cquire md tht mde m, is Snyder's wy newness. One thks Thoreu, t Widen, hvg n reltion origl universe, writg scripture. And Thoreu, it ppers, is tutelry spirit book, hvg provided two its mtic strs s well s his first section exmple. "Loggg," book, trets destruction wilderness, which Snyder, citg text "But ye shll destroy ir ltrs, brek ir imges, cut down ir groves" (Exodus 34:13), ttributes Christ righteousness rpcity. In tenth poem this section he sys: Wht bors me is ll those stumps: Wht did y do with wood? Those Xts out sve souls grb l Thoreu expresses this me spolition Widen skg, "How cn you expect birds sg when ir groves re cut down?" And morng str, with which Snyder begs ends book, is explicitly Thoreu's ("The sun is but morng str"), promise renewl, be erned purificry disciples tht Thoreu found Est. (In "Dhrm re Queries," Snyder mds us tht Buddh "sw Morng Str hd n enlightenment which content ws tl comprehension nture terdependent co-cre tion....") Snyder begs book present, with loggg, work he hd done summer He begs world trees, with ir violent quick destruction mchery (see especilly #8), terrible mscule force tht lso emscultes cn only be counterviled feme tenderness love (see #9). Hvg lost his job s lookout becuse he hd been considered security risk, he turned loggg hd suffered through lumber strike 1954, s #5 "The Lte Snow & Lumber Strike" ( Riprp) show. His politics my be sid beg here, his ssocition with loggers with his timte knowledge ir economic struggles (see #7 #10)?with n wreness socil fct tht nture contributes men. The spolition spolition concludg section (#14 #15) cont his bitter nger perhps Pound-like scorn. In both text from Exodus is employed: first, s refr chronicle destruction: The groves re down cut down Groves Ahb, Cybele Pe Semi, cedr Hid Cut down prophets Isrel firies Ans thugs Rome both ncient modern; 74

7 Cut down mke room for suburbs second, s srdonic comment: Men who hire men cut groves Kill snkes, build cities, pve fields, Believe God, but cn't Believe ir own senses. Let lone Gutm. Let m lie. And sce he hs lerned tht Mrx promise permnent reform is firy tle ("O Krl would it were true / I'd put my sw work for you / & wicked socil tree would fll right down"), he relies on vst processes destruction-cretion spoken Hdu mythology. He is willg wit out Klp: Until next blze Of world, universe, Millions worlds, burng The second section, moves "Huntg," furr bck time thn first. Huntg is n erlier wilderness occuption thn loggg requires different skills ttitudes. By we huntg truly enter wild world nimls. Snyder describes its virtue "Poetry Primitive," section entitled "Mkg Love with Animls": To hunt mens use your body senses fullest: str your consciousness feel wht deer re thkg dy, this moment; sit still let yourself go birds wd while witg gme tril. Huntg mgic is designed brg gme creture who hs herd you? your song, witnessed s your cerity, out comes with compssion your rnge. Huntg mgic is not only imed t brgg bests ir deth, but ssist ir birth? promote ir fertility. is reverentil Huntg discipled, rt, ritul culture tht knows its en vironment So timtely. here, s collections Americn Ind lore, re pryers for birds, ber, deer; listg foods "we lived on n" how mke horn tellg spoon. These shmnist world belong Rven Coyote, which, s on poem ber with mtg womn, little distction is mde between nimls people.* *In brief notice ir Texts Myths Journl Americn Folklore, LXXIV (April-June, 1961), 184, use orl literture Americn Inds, ir motifs, songs, text trnsltion, Kwkiutl phrse, Coyote, etc., is poted out? lso fct Snyder's competence this re his tention dedictg 75 Criticism

8 But for poet present, shmn sittg log rod, huntg is lso serch for sources renewl, for wy bck this timte, vitl world. this kd or those ecsttic Huntg requires disciples: vision, wher duced or drugs solitry exposure fstg, prcticed Ameri cn Inds, or those Zen, which, ssocites with shmnism. Snyder ( In "Jpn First Time Around," he is remded Zen chnt shmnism plys with possibility, somewht relized Myths?? Texts, Buddhist lectures on Shoshone texts" or Shstr / commentries on cretion In Nvjo myth.") serch for vision?new wreness renewl?he jos both; ir common junction, given third poem, is "See or go bld!" This disciple is rduous, n scent out hell md tht delivers one from Krm niml life. It figures concludg poem on mount climbg: First dy world. White rock ridges new born closg poem, which tells birth child: How rre be born humn beg! Wsh him f with cedr-brk milkweed send dmned docrs home. B, b, noble b Noble-herted b. ends with girls nursg nimls: Meng: compssion. : mn Agents best, bests Got buddh-nture All but Coyote. The lst section book relies more on Orientl scripture thn Americn Ind lore. Its title, comes from Buddh's fire sermon. The "Burng," probbly focus now on unconscious on need "lern love, horror The universe?"the Mor whose is Universe ccepted." body / Whose brests re Sun Moon"?susts us. Like Muir t Mt. John impsse sclg Ritter, we cn on her. For we re rely "Blnced on boundless compssion / Of dims, lv, chipmunks" need only scrifice our self-love, "clutchgs," relize it. We need purify self, become "pure bug" "dry, hrd chryslis," whose htchg is rebirth wkeng. (The imgery is Thoreu's.) And we need lso know tht "whole spng show" is Frnz Bos. Erth House Hold conts two reviews books on Americn Ind legends tles; y represent re prticulr focl terest se. Animl-people niml-mrrige tles re emphsized both. Their significnce for ecologicl ttitudes is commented on lter Erth House Hold, p

9 or "fllg burng"?tht destruction, is burng, condition cretion trnsformtion; tht, forest fire, "The hot seeds stem underground / still live." This imge ( #15) brgs forwrd g me renewl troduced section one. There Snyder tells lodgepole pe whose seed escpes destructive fire re new brgs birth. In lst poem tht section Lodgepole cone / seed wits for fire we re enjoed "wit / Until next blze...." This is blze, forest fire up Thunder Creek with whose cesstion glimmer morng str new dwn book poclypticlly ends. Snyder's next volume poetry, A Rnge Poems, is his lrgest book dte. Published London 1966, it is, s stmpg on spe dictes, "Collected Poems"?here, followg order, one fds Riprp, Cold Moun t, Myths 6- Texts, Miyzw Kenji, The Bck Country. The trnsltions this volume re notble prt his work function much sme s wy trnsltion, "Record Life Ch'n Mster Hui Po-chng Hi," Erth House Hold. The life Mster Po-chng is n exmple Zen hgiogrphy, fter "Tnker Notes," re-estblishes strict Zen disciple "Sprg Sessh t Shokoku-ji" serves s foundtion for remg essys. Cold Mount, s we hve seen, model Zen life tt provides ment?s Snyder sys Hn-shn his friend Shih-te, Dhrm origl bums, becme Immortls "y you sometimes run on m dy skidrows, orchrds, hobo jungles, loggg cmps Americ." It lso provides model Chese poetry just s selection from work Miyzw Kenji ( ) provides model recent Jpnese poetry. These trnsltions show us wht hs tried ssimilte re s Snyder importnt his work gugg his chievement s Lowell's trnsltions Imittions re his. The selections from re Miyzw Kenji free verse tret sttes Buddhist wreness mn nture. set lscpe--beg, They very high few strd?only Snyder's tt excellence Miyzw Kenji's "Sprg Ashur" "Pe Needles." In A Rnge Poems, y prefce The Bck Country; recent ltered enlrged edition The Bck Country (1968), y re plced t end. The development represented The Bck Country is not one kd so much s scope. The essentil erlier ground is covered g only now re re some modifictions form, focus, ne, me. The design "A Berry Fest," for is more s it should be exmple, complex, perhps so sgle poem resumg mny poet's previous mes. Willims' tridic vrible foot is now employed, s "A Heifer Clmbers Up," use spce with punctution le is more There is even frequent. clligrmme? "Once Only." None this is s s significnt poet's ttempt fd forml structure sufficient openness for full rnge his work. The title itself serves this end unity, recent edition book, Snyder spelled it 77 Criticism

10 out replcg numerls previous edition with Fr West, Fr Est (Jpn), Kli (Indi), Bck (spelled BACK). This nmes progress his trvels but lso, conjunction with n epigrph from Bsho, dictes wy life exemplified. The epigrph nnounces desire wer, which n requires open form: "... So?when ws it?i, drwn like blown cloud, couldn't cost sp dremg romg, rovg up down...." This is free renderg expresses more youthful crefree spirit thn one fds A Journey Deep North or The Bck Country itself. An dventurous spirit belongs more fittgly series hiku published here under punng title, "Hitch Hiku," wht promises be poet's longest work, Moun ts Rivers Without End (six sections were published 1956). The con ception this endless poem comes from scroll ptg; The Dhrm Bums, Jphy Ryder describes it: "I'll do new long poem clled 'Rivers Mounts Without End' just write it on on on scroll unfold on on with new wht went before surprises lwys forgotten, see, like river.... I'll spend three thous yers writg it, it'll be pcked full formtion on soil conservtion, Tennessee Vlley Authority, stronomy, Hsun geology, Tsung's trvels, Chese ptg ory, reforesttion, Ocenic food chs." ecology The lredy re published ten more "experimentl" form more vernculr thn elsewhere? more uneven published qulity. re They Snyder's version n open rod ir forml freedom cp ciousness sometimes remds one Pound's Cns. There is no ssurnce yet tht ir unity my be kd declred verse followg cited Blyth (Hiku, I): Mounts rivers, whole erth,? All mnifest forth essence beg. Even though y re not plced chronologicl order?perhps becuse it? y hve freshness unfoldg experiences. But y do not present ex perience s we now beg fd it The Bck Country, where forml structure volves return, turng bck. The unity Riprp is essentilly one stillness, tht Myths ir Texts is mtic. The unity The Bck Country depends upon notion trvel metphoric force title, but neir secures it so much s presence memory which now begs fill some. This is third volume, so its ground is fmilir poet reder, sense, recovered. Now is experience compounded rememberg deepeng life. Though book, especilly openg section, "Fr West," conts tht might hve been cluded Riprp, its domnt ne is nor kd. There is gittion Riprp, but it is resolved course ction, journey Jpn. Now, much tht poet hs crried with him on his trvels is dmitted, s "Lookg t Pictures be Put Awy": Who ws this girl In her white night gown Clutchg pir jens 78

11 On foggy redwood deck. She Clm, looks up surprised, t me tender, Wht will we remember Bodies thick with food lovers After twenty yers. And s he contues trvel, still workg bord ship, he begs ponder "7.IV.64," not with levity poem tends, his plce life: ll my friends hve children & I'm gettg old. t lest enough be First Mte or n Engeer. now I know I'll never be Ph.D. Wht is now dmitted, we relize ws hir lmost wholly excluded, is love. The more he trvels more he is poet's experience possessed thoughts love friendship, sense loss, memory nocent desire with which he first knew m. Bck, mirror-imged, my be reflection this. Friendship is mor str, best represented "August on Sourdough, A Visit from Dick Brewer" "Rollg In t Twilight." The gesture poem itself, which nmes friend fixes forever n exemplry ct, testifies Snyder's feelgs for deep open reltionship youth. In first poem Dick Brewer "hitched thous miles" see poet, who, turn, loned him his poncho; second, Phil Whlen hs lid some groceries gst rrivl. poet's probble Love is mjor str is first presented here "After Work": The shck few trees flot blowg fog I pull out your blouse, wrm my cold hs on your brests, you lugh shudder peelg grlic hot iron sve, brg xe, rke, wood we'll len on wll gst ech or stew on fire simmerg s it grows drk drkg we. 79 Criticism

12 Love here is prized prt contuum whose senstions stedy livg poet fully svors deeply pprecites. It is s depicted homecomg. And it is s simple directly physicl without hste s poem, for poet who trnsfers his rhythm experience poem knows vlues reltion contrst, cre husbmn, is s confident plesures love s or goods life, food come, we, envelopg wrmth drkness. This poem is mong new ltest edition The Bck Country. Along with concludg poem section one, "For Boy Who Ws Dodger Pot Lookout Fifteen Yers Ago," it troduces me loss longg tht before ws not broched until for Rob section two. This con cludg poem is explicitly retrospective. A hed note tells us tht poet, now lone hikg Olympic mounts, remembers trip sme re mny yers before with his first wife ( n experience treted nor poem, "Alysoun," which begs section three). The poem is for boy-lookout for boy poet hd been. It describes mount medows, from vntge lookout, which poet hs climbed tlk with lonely boy, tbleu Alison (Rob) bthg nked pond. From this distnce she is "Swn Miden," icon s well s merely For lovely significnt myth-motif. wht is im portnt is meetg poet lookout " our / world snow flowers"? representtion s friendship perhps higher purer thn love. The con cludg stnz, not without contrsts Hemgwyesque sentimentlity, priste reltions love friendship with present desperte confusion poet: I don't know where I never sked nme. your In this burng, muddy, blood-drenched world she is now; lyg, tht quiet meetg mounts cool s muzzles gentle three elk, me sne. helps keep In section two, "Four Poems for Rob" crry this me. They tell lonely poet who remembers his body ("I remember your cool body / Nked under summer cotn dress") now knows tht wrs "potless hert" he lost "grve, wed tensity" young love:... wht ors All crve seek for; We left it behd t neteen. "December t Yse" tells wrs will ("I ws obsessed with pln"; "I thought I must mke it lone. I / Hve done tht")* but lso cknowledges tht ws *Snyder mrried Alison Gss from meditely fterwrd. Riprp begs lmost im 80

13 he might "Siwshg hve hd nor krm?somethg which his body lso hts it out once Siuslw Ntionl Forest" where he writes: I don't md Green hills livg this wy long blue bech But sometimes sleepg open I thk bck when I hd you. With section three, "Kli," me love becomes more As proment. wy designtg his trvels, "Kli" sts for Indi; section cludes on Indi tht re counterprts "A Journey Rishikesh & Hrdwr" Erth House Hold. But Kli is Mor Goddess, mny, vriously, prise her. The openg poem Alison cknowledges her s first mny Klis poet's experience. There re whorehouse erotic dventure mritl celebrtion (Snyder mrried Jonne Kyger 1960). But ll? this is true tretment love?re tender vribly Snyder's reverentil. Love for him, s or here on drkness drunkenness is drk ecsttic It is so suggest, mystery. "The Mnichens," where love is s cosmic presented power, cretg light, wrmth, life. This mbitious poem tries ssimilte myth present experience is less successful dog this thn "August Ws Foggy," simple poem lst section tht, concludg stnzs, chieves it: The first green shoots grss, you like some slender fresh young plnt turn smooth cool cross me night. uch, tste, terlce deep ground, new r, s we beg our life. This poem lso conveys those spects Tntr, so love importnt poet's ethic, considered "Nno Knows" ("Ech girl is rel") "How Mny Times" ("open, / were I s The trvels re open"). poet's journey love, pursuit wy.* And s or love lst section show he hs lerned much on wy. "Across Lmrck Col" not only confesses his fult ("your blck block *It should be noted tht "To Hell with Your Fertility Snyder honestly cknowledges Cult" "Tstg Snow." correltive emotions 81 Criticism

14 me") but fct tht ll subsequent love ffirs ssert his loss, his fidelity origl feelg. And nor fe poem, s good its s complexity "August Ws is its relizes Foggy" simplicity, eqution mount=nture=womn. "Beneth My H Eye Distnt Hills, Your Body" is geogrphy, ge ology, estics, love which metphysics bstrctions re used deny mselves yield solvent feelg experience. In this poem, Snyder shows s well s nywhere wht it is tht he hs gone serch brought bck from Est. His most recent work, Regrdg Wve, celebrtes world-s-womn love s its ever-genertive force, tht moves him spirit poetry now mrrige frhood. The title essentil ides book re glossed "The Voice s Girl," prt essy, "Poetry Primitive." H expls here wht he tries convey : tht, for him, universe is live enters his body s breth, re enblg him sg out " ner song self"; tht poetry is such spired spekg, response self tht is deeper thn ego uch world. The ttitude he wishes present is not tht Western trdition Muse Romntic Love, though its notion "womn s nture field for universe s experiencg scrmentl" is ll primitive trdition tht is left us. Not womn s nture but nture s womn is wht he womn sgs?not prticulr divized, s cult Romntic Love, but Goddess herself. The Goddess Vk. "Poetry is voice, ccordg Ind trdition, voice, vk (vox)?is Goddess. Vk is lso clled S rs vri, she is lover Brhm his ctul cretive.. energy.." Srsvti mens " flowg one"; "s Vk is wife Brhm ('wife' mens 'wve' mens Vibrr' so Indo-Europen etymology) voice, everyone, is mirror his own deepest self." Such is meng Regrdg Wve, poet's reverentil prise contul cretion which he humbly grtefully prticiptes. It is lwys difficult write poetry prise. None this book is especilly epiphnic. Snyder's chievement is not sgle but susted feelg qulity book s whole. The book is well unified structure tht three-prt my be considered wve-like, wve-like le stnz, breth-phrsg le, not unusul with Snyder, but emphsized here, its sgleness me. The wve is Snyder's ppre hension nture wht lef is Geo's?it is ur-phenomenon. He cele brtes it vriously: ocen, river, ss, pebbles, clouds; flow process growth; ecology food chs. And gst this celebrtion orgnic cretion, he sets counter-me spolition violtion femle. The book begs with n voction wve Ah, tremblg spredg rditg wyf zebr rcg ctch me flg me wide To dncg gr thgs my md! 82

15 ends with pryerful wreness still wve flowg ll : thgs The Voice is wife him still.* And book is especilly well unified its occsion, fullness new life, primitive, "rchic" life, he hs found with Ms Uehr t shrm on Suw-no-Se Isl, ir mrrige re (with which ccount superb lst essy Erth House Hold ends), birth ir child out se womb. In "It Ws When," ctlog (or Whitmn litny) sexul con summtions, he tells how "we cught"? Wves prevlent esterly breeze whisperg you through us, grce. In "The Bed Sky," he turns from cold outdoors, where he feels he ought sty wtch moon, door wrmth bed wife stirrg child her belly. "Ki, Tody" nnounces se-birth his son, "Not Levg House," tells chnge this dvent hs brought: From dwn til lte t night new world ourselves mkg round this life. This is not book trvel nor plce, though third section is lrgely devoted "burng isl." Plce is importnt but flly different. Wht mtters this ccount workg elements se l, plntg seeds crg for new life, is tht current universl beg hs flowed through him he hs become, more selflessly, servnt life. And somethg hir untted hs t lst been tted: wish lookout who long go noted his first journl, "Or hvg wife child, livg close ocen, with skills for grg food." This book commemortes tkg up on erth. housekeepg * uses s Snyder spce divider this poem "Rbow Body," Vjr device ( ) lso used "Dhrm It Queries." is, he sys, "n ncient wisdom/thunderbolt symbol." 83 Criticism

16 From lookout shrm. From Widen, we might sy, Fruitls. The is Thoreu's: mn is tsked mke his impertive throughout "Every life, even its detils, worthy contempltion his most elevted criticl hour." But direction is Alcott's: from solitude society, from dividul fmily. Medittion is seeg self tht entils its ctg out, this ction, Snyder sys, "Buddhism Comg Revolution," is "ultimtely wrd true 'll The revolution?or trns community (sngh) begs.'" formtion?he clls for is be mde fmily life, for its gency is love "love begs with fmily its network erotic responsible reltion ships." To chnge form fmily life is lter society rdiclly, t its root. And Edenic vision Snyder's "ecologicl blnce, clssless society, socil economic freedom" is s rdicl for our s mtrilel society communl fmily tht he believes enbles it? "fmily s prt dive ecology." The feelgs which this fmilil-socil vision nswers re neir unfmilir nor rdicl. Literture, literture hs m. youth, lwys reported Snyder, whose writg tells nothg his pst fmily life, tells "Pssge More Thn Indi" his own t discovery, 18, community house, "hrmony community with fellow begs." This o, much lter, is wht he found idelly t Bnyn Ashrm on Suw-no-Se Isl. Such feelgs, like so much tht is considered rdicl, re essentil full conservtive?conservg humnity? Snyder is right Connect m with occult trditions persistent Gret Sub culture. Wht is rdicl now is not merely repudition present socil forms (" modern is smllest most brren tht hs ever fmily existed"; " trditionl cultures re ny cse doomed") but serch for socil solutions pst, distnce bck beg, perhps, mesure this. Snyder is rdicl becuse he holds, s he sys, " most rchic vlues on erth" becuse he tries dvnce m relizg m new his life his work. Yet re is nothg rchic his pproprition m: y re his ( ours) right modern psychology s nthropology well s medittion. No more thn Thoreu, cn he be put down s primitive: "I try hold both hisry wilderness my md," he sys, "tht my my true mesure pproch st thgs gst unblnce our times." ignornce This declrtion ddresses our ferful sov centrlizg technology tht it ereignty present speeds on; it is becuse it n noteworthy nounces for still nor me work g, genertion, gret mjor our time, resrtion culture its true mesure. Like Lwrence Willims before him, cite two modern writers with whom he only pioneer sts, Snyder would redress our culture resrg vitl feme, voygg hisriclly psychiclly Pgny, chrtg for us new conurs feelg. We should not expect him himself work this gret chnge. This is mistke those who confuse poetry with politics, critics like Peter Levi, who sys tht we need Snyder's poetry but dds tht "his medice is not gog cure..." His work is becuse it bers nythg. politicl witness; on this ccount one respects wys it combes We ubiogrphy upi. should ccept his n conscience be creted time sve devstted optimism?cn ecologicl 84

17 universe??s condition work, s n ct fith founded on pround bsic trust. It is not socil nivete. The distnce register from lookout shrm is long difficult; it is not esy for us enter bck country nor fd rchic We cnnot sprgs. expect literture cure us, only herten us us showg new true possibilities how much my be chieved life rt conscious endevor. Snyder's work, sub lredy stntil chievement, does this. And it my be especilly herteng us becuse it n Americn poet hs flly turned Orient shown how much Americ might yet be discovered pssge Indi. Gry Snyder DOWN from Mts & Rivers Bck where it strted. Over fields, looks level, Begs go down. Thicker trees this shde A few rnches on benches wht river? vlley Lower, shdier, tril less worn, Rougher Rockier, Openg gulch, brushier, out on bre sne hogsbck rchg bull hump forwrd over tiltg, openg, gorge, Switchbckg down tht edge round it, Steeper, drker, Cliffs brekg under, closer, A cool well nothg hppeng beneth, lips re's no strem re 85 Criticisrri