"ryokan" poems
My hut lies in the middle of a dense forest;
Every year the green ivy grows longer.
No news of the affairs of men,
Only the occasional song of a woodcutter.
The sun shines and I mend my robe;
When the moon comes out I read Buddhist poems.
I have nothing to report, my friends.
If you want to find the meaning, stop chasing after so many things.
Zen Master Ryokan
May 3, 2015
May 3, 2015 at 3:29 PM UTC
~
March 2025
HP Poet: Mike Adam
Age: 66
Country: UK
Question 1: A warm welcome to the HP Spotlight, Mike. Please tell us about your background?
Mike Adam: "Slum east London, dysfunctional violent childhood, playing on bombsites. School, dungeons and kidnappings, sad little boy. Love of dogs and plants and rocks. School: Beckett Shopenhauer, work, college, work university, 1st love lost, travel Asia beaches and mountains, monasteries, monks, Bhodidharma. Work, work, work, Lady J (published collection), retirement, happy at last."
Question 2: How long have you been writing poetry, and for how long have you been a member of Hello Poetry?
Mike Adam: "Began writing 10 years old, HP about ten years."
Question 3: What inspires you? (In other words, how does poetry happen for you).
Mike Adam: "Poems gestate and arrive unbidden, laid like turtle eggs, a little hole, sand flicked and forgotten."
Question 4: What does poetry mean to you?
Mike Adam: "From 1,000 posts perhaps start with the latest few. I call them "mercifully short," easy to read but, given time, you may unpack a great deal."
Question 5: Who are your favorite poets?
Mike Adam:
*"Ryokan:
Why ask who has Satori, who has not?
What need have I for that dust, fame and gain
Montale:
Life that seemed vast
Is briefer than your handkerchief"*
Question 6: What other interests do you have?
Mike Adam: *"Amidst the first suicidal mass extinction in history I am grateful to read new poetry and garner hope from young poets still expressing themselves in beautiful combinations of words so thank you all for that...
Who am I?
I don't know"*
Carlo C. Gomez: “Thank you so much Mike, we really appreciate you giving us the opportunity to get to know the person behind the poet! It is our pleasure to include you in this Spotlight series!”
Mike Adam: "With gratitude, Mike."
Thank you everyone here at HP for taking the time to read this. We hope you enjoyed coming to know Mike a little bit better. We certainly did. It is our wish that these spotlights are helping everyone to further discover and appreciate their fellow poets. – Carlo C. Gomez
We will post Spotlight #26 in April!
~
Mar 2, 2025
Mar 2, 2025 at 4:45 PM UTC
Look closely at your dots and periods.
You'll see this...
. Bob Dylan .
. William Shakespeare .
. Maya Angelou . Emily Dickinson .
. Ralph Waldo Emerson . Robert Frost . Ai .
. Max Eastman . Thomas Hardy . William Blake .
. Edgar Allan Poe . Pablo Neruda . James Joyce . Ovid .
. Carl Sandberg . Anne Sexton . Taigu Ryokan . Sappho .
. Ogden Nash . Dorothy Parker . JD Salinger . Rumi .
. Dame Edith Sitwell . Mary Wollstonecraft Shelly .
. Anna Swir . Sara Teasdale . JRR Tolkien .
. Alfred Lord Tennyson . John Skelton .
. Dante Gabriel Rossetti .
. Dylan Thomas .
Soul Survivor
2014
Mar 11, 2014
Mar 11, 2014 at 7:45 AM UTC
The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away, and the weather is clear again.
If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure.
Abandon this fleeting world, abandon yourself, then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way.
Zen Master Ryokan (1758-1831)
May 3, 2015
May 3, 2015 at 3:19 PM UTC
Truly, I love this life of seclusion.
Carrying my staff, I walk toward a friend's cottage.
The trees in his garden, soaked by the evening rain,
Reflect the cool, clear autumnal sky.
The owner's dog comes to greet me;
Chrysanthemums bloom along the fence.
These people have the same spirit as the ancients;
An earthen wall marks their separation from the world.
In the house volumes of poetry are piled on the floor.
Abondoning wordliness, I often come to this tranquil place.
The spirit here is the spirit of Zen.
Zen Master Ryokan
May 3, 2015
May 3, 2015 at 3:54 PM UTC
Taigu Ryokan
(1758-1831)
Have You Forgotten Me
have you forgotten me
or lost the path here?
i wait for you
all day, every day
but you do not appear.
May 2, 2014
May 2, 2014 at 6:08 AM UTC
Ryokan can have
the moon -
for me a single
cricket,
all angles and
kinetic potential,
violins before
the boxwood
was cut
to sing.
Apr 24, 2019
Apr 24, 2019 at 3:11 AM UTC
Have you forgotten the way to my hut?
Every evening I wait for the sound of your footsteps,
But you do not appear.
Ryokan from One Robe, One Bowl
(trans. John Stevens)
I
Today I pulled up winter-bleached ribbon-grass
to ready the garden for Spring.
Its fraying, filmy whiteness
calls to mind
the cloud-like gray of your hair
floating in mountain breezes
as you watch the crescent-moon
move among ancient pines.
II
Your hut is many ages away!
Your moon still casts her peaceful shadows. . .
These afternoon frailties of grass will fade
like the incense rising
out of your hermitage window.
III
I do recall the way to Gogo-an!
Your hut is reached by treading deeper and deeper
into the heart's valley—
carrying a handful of ghost-colored grasses
and an empty rice-bowl.
Mar 5, 2014
Mar 5, 2014 at 11:46 AM UTC
Once again, many greedy people appear
No different from silkworms wrapped in cocoons.
Wealth and riches are all they love,
Never giving their minds or bodies a moment's rest.
Every year their natures deteriorate
While their vanity increases.
One morning death comes before
They can use even half their money.
Others happily receive the estate,
And the deceased's name is soon lost in darkness.
For such people there can only be great pity.
Zen Master Ryokan
May 3, 2015
May 3, 2015 at 3:42 PM UTC
Like a fool, like a dunce,
Body and mind completely dropped off!
Zen Master Ryokan
May 3, 2015
May 3, 2015 at 3:58 PM UTC
Who Says my poems are poems?
My poems are not poems.
After you know my poems are not poems,
Then we can begin to discuss poetry!
Written by the great Zen Master Ryokan
May 2, 2015
May 2, 2015 at 1:24 PM UTC