Customer Reviews

Awesome Nightfall: The Life, Times and Poetry of Saigyo

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Bill LaFleur presents us with a wonderful account of the poetry of an important Japanese poet. It reminds me a little bit of Thomas Mertons draw towards writing poetry while in a monastery. Saigyo lived a very difficult life during some really horrific times in Japanese history. It was a challenge to truly detach himself from the occurrences of the daily struggle of life during his time. He struggled in his poetry with inner dilemmas that we all face. Issues surrounding sex and time spent worrying somewhat about his earlier years spent as a warrior. Saigyo believed in fusing poetry with the path of the Buddha in a life of action, or truly sincere practice. The experiment would encompass a lifetime of this monk, and the outcomes of his story are left for interpretation for us lucky readers. He had to detach himself from relationships with those who aspired to be poets, but who did not participate in actualizing their works in their daily lives. Saigyos style is eerily reminiscent of the Chinese Taoist master Chuang Tzu in his prose and approach, and I suppose Ill end this review with a quick poem by him:

The moon, like you,
Is far away from me, but its our sole memento:
If you look and recall our past through it,
We can be one mind.