Customer Reviews

Kabir: Ecstatic Poems

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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Beautiful translation of one of my favorite mystic poets! Robert Bly's translation of Kabir allows us to experience this mystic poet in a personal way without losing any of the beauty of the poetry. Really enjoyed this book.

Indeed these poems are of such a depth that it is difficult to render their content. Let's say it's the Sufi tradition in full. Just glimpses of the Absolute Truth expressed in words. Let the power of the sound embrace your whole being. Excellent!

It's so hard to find WISDOM these days...
not "moral/ethical" wisdom, or "financial" wisdom,
but ECSTATIC WISDOM.
So few people are interested in the subject of
actually experiencing divine ecstasy...they're too
tied down by dogma, worship of imagery & robotic
ceremonies, etc. That's why this Kabir book by Mr. Bly
is so refreshing...like a real literary Oasis.
It's LOADED with wisdom of the divine ecstasy kind.
I don't care about any translation controversies...
I just approach the book as its own entity...and
understand the ecstatic wisdom it radiates.
I want to thank Mr. Bly for producing this book of
ecstatic wisdom poetry...there's so little of it
available. THANK YOU MR. BLY.

"We are all struggling; none of us has gone far." Perhaps not, but the world presented in these poems of a Bhakti, devotion is a different, further, place, one of struggle yet, but also of ecstatic love. Kabir is a poet from India Fourteenth century, while Bly a poet of our time. He tries to bring this home with specifics for our age, for example, "a loaded gun" rather than "deadly weapon" . These are not translation, but are Robert Bly's "versions". Divided into 4 sections "The Gardener is Coming", "The Wanting Creature", "The Bride Want Her Lover", and "The Guest is Inside You". There are some startling lines in these poems; for example:
if you can't find where your soul is hidden, for you the world will never be real.

When you're trying to find a hardwood forest, it seems wise to know what a tree is.

There is a moon in my body, but I can't see it.

This short book is rich, the short introduction gives a setting of Kabir, while the poems themselves are nicely illustrated for example "Krishna with Flute", help to give an otherworldly effect. The afterward by John Hawley, helps to locate Bly, and proposes a connection from Thoreau to Bly.

These poems are filled with ecstatic wisdom. Refreshing and deep, containing messages about love and devotion which we all need in our journeys.
A great read.

This book is a wonderful translation of a collection of poems written by the fifteenth-century ecstatic poet Kabir. Professor John Stratton Hawley has written an introduction about Kabir's importance and Bly's intuitive translations.
The present work allows the reader to acquire many insights about Kabir's sufi experiences in a beautiful poetic language. The words are powerful, spiritual, wise, transformative and ecstatic.

Joyce Akesson, author of Love's Thrilling Dimensions, The Invitation and Majnun Leyla: Poems about Passion.

His poems are short and enigmatic. They bear repetition and pondering. Like Rumi, he is able to pierce to he heart of a deep subject with humor, beautiful metaphor and keen insight. He sometimes like to be a bit shocking, poking fun at established (and perhaps sacred) icons. For me his playfulness lightens up things.

Awesome quality and nicely spaced print. The quality of the book is great. I enjoyed reading the poems but just like an translation you have to understand it won't be the same thing like the original language. Neverthless it's a good read for non-Hindi readers.

Robert Bly so beautifully captures Kabir in this translation. I was very fortunate to see him recite poetry at UNC-A in 2007. I highly recommend this book!

Love the book. I resent being told how many words I have to use for MY review. You are making me angry with your demands for longer reviews