Book of Changes [Paperback]

Karen Holden (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 21, 1998

Each of the poems connects with one of the 64 hexagrams in this ancient and popular Chinese oracular text, revealing how the author's emotions and experiences mirror, or complicate, the traditional meaning of each divination.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The delicate yet strong weave of Karen Holden's syntax; her subtle yet forceful ways with rhythm; and the spectrum of her perceptions, each shaded in a particular and unmistakeable hue."
-Michael Ventura, Letters at 3AM

About the Author

Karen Holden is a poet, teacher, book artist and a painter. A native of Los Angeles, she currently teaches at Taliesin, the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture.

Product Details

• Paperback: 96 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books (May 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556432631
• ISBN-13: 978-1556432637
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 5.3 x 0.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,244,503 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provocative, fresh imagery, incorporating a deeper rhythm, February 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Book of Changes (Paperback)

Karen Holden uses the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching as a springboard to self examination. Her languages is concise and engages the reader with its revealing, truthful voice. The poetry shows a serious effort in their crafting, a sincerity of expression, based on real struggle. I appreciate her reflection of the I Ching, showing its simple, direct insight into human experience without the esoteric smoke and mirrors overlaid by overzealous commentators. The Book of Changes blends streams of exertion, ecstacy, anger, exhiliration, persimmons and enlightenment, drafting a mixture balanced in its rhythm, correct within lifes cycle

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Poetry for the heart and mind of the I Ching student, September 6, 2001

By 

Julie Tallard Johnson (Spring Green, Wisconsin) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Book of Changes (Paperback)

Karen's poems has opened the door to more understanding of each I Ching hexagram for me. Each poem stands on its own and I often read them to my students. She gives powerful images and emotions to the meaning of each hexagram. I have consulted the I Ching since I was 16 years old (over 30 years now) and her book sings to me. One of her poems will be in my upcoming book: I Ching For Teens (Fall 2001, Inner Traditons & Bear and Co.,). Her book could accompany any I Ching consultation.
This book of poems shows that there are many ways to convey, read and translate the I Ching while still holding on to its message of hope, compassion, personal integrity and cosmic truth.
Thank you Karen for adding to the meaning of the I Ching with your poetry...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Art, The Artist, The Person, The Poetry, July 25, 2000

By 

Loren D. Morrison "amateur_reviewer" (Los Angeles County, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Book of Changes (Paperback)

My first contact with Karen Holden was through seeing her visual art. Upon first seeing those paintings, I was struck by the intensity of feeling that she could express with brush and canvas. Wanting to live with some of her artwork, I arranged to meet with her. My first few meetings with her were as artist and client. Over time we became friends, and through that friendship, I came to realize how much Karen put her soul into her art.

In her BOOK OF CHANGES, I can see that same deep personal interaction between Karen and her poetry as I saw between Karen and her art. Poetry, in all its forms, is, arguably, the most personal way of expression possible. When a poet shares his or her poetry with us, he or she is sharing something of the self. This is certainly true here.

In Karen's introduction she quotes Lao Tzu as follows: "A good artist lets his intuition lead him wherever he wants." She goes on to state: This is my goal -- to be led into this work and be enriched by it." I think that she has not only enriched herself, she has enriched all of us.

Each verse of Karen's poetry is paired with one of the sixty-four hexagrams of the "I Ching." The "I Ching" can be read as a philosophical text, or one can consult it much as the ancient Greeks consulted the Oracle. Karen's poems have sprung from her years of interaction with the "I Ching" and, in their own way, have added another dimension. I think that we can see this from the following short poem from the book:

I CHING #55: FENG: "Abundance" -- "If Clarity is within, and Movement without, one has greatness and abundance."

Karen's poetic pairing with #55"

"IS ENOUGH"

"birds sit on the tree -----outside my window

like the last persimmons ----- of winter ----- beautiful fruit"

Quoting one poem (and one of the shortest at that) out of sixty-four is, of course, unfair to the book. After all, things taken out of context lose something that can be achieved only by putting them back into context. To do this one must read the entire book, including the Introduction. Read, contemplate, and meditate if you want the full impact.