A masterful translation of one of the most-loved classics of Japanese literature—part travelogue, part haiku collection, part account of spiritual awakening
Bashō (1644–1694)—a great luminary of Asian literature who elevated the haiku to an art form of utter simplicity and intense spiritual beauty—is...
Influenced by the Chinese and Japanese masters, Hamill's Dumb Luck affirms his ability to give us back the world and all its vicissitudes. Here you will find Zen fables, elegies and haiku, bluesy riffs, and poems that celebrate births, marriages, the liberating exile of the poet, as well as verses...
Read More about Dumb Luck"Carruth is] one of the lasting literary signatures of our time."--Library Journal (starred review)
"Carruth...contains multitudes."--Booklist (starred review)
"Carruth is a people's poet... a virtuoso of form."--The Nation
This "portable Carruth" gathers new poems with the essential works from a...
Read More about Toward the Distant Islands: New and Selected PoemsA collection of classical Japanese haiku selected and translated by one of America's premier poet-translators.
Haiku is one of the most popular and widely recognized poetic forms in the world due to its brevity, emotion, and astounding ability to capture the unique experience of a single moment. This...
This modern classic invites the reader to discover a unique tradition that has come to symbolize the wisdom, beauty, and the elegant simplicity of Asian culture. The author celebrates the Way of Tea from its ancient origins in Chinese Taoism to its culmination in the Zen discipline known as the...
Read More about The Book of TeaPart poetry, part paradox, always stirring and profound, Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching has been inspiring readers since it was written over two thousand years ago. This masterpiece is also one of the most frequently translated books in all of history, in part because the multiple meanings of the Chinese...
Read More about Tao Te Ching: A New TranslationThe Chuang Tzu has been translated into English numerous times, but never with the freshness, accessibility, and accuracy of this remarkable rendering. Here the immediacy of Chuang Tzu's language is restored in a idiom that is both completely fresh and true to the original text. This unique...
Read More about The Essential Chuang TzuThis extraordinary collection of poems—covering thirty centuries of poetry from around the world—celebrates the erotic spirit in all its forms, from the passion of sexual desire to the intense longing for spiritual union. Beginning with anonymous Egyptian love songs from the fifteenth century BCE...
Read More about The Erotic Spirit: An Anthology of Poems of Sensuality, Love, and LongingYosano Akiko (1878-942) is one of the most famous Japanese writers of the twentieth century. She is the author of more than seventy-five books, including twenty volumes of original poetry and the definitive translation into modern Japanese of the Tale of the Genji. Although probably best known for...
Read More about River of Stars: Selected Poems of Yosano AkikoSam Hamill is that rare figure whose life is continually in dialogue with the rich and diverse tradition of poetry, whether that dialogue takes the form of translating the work of a poet long dead, writing a poem in celebration of the work of a contemporary poet, or musing on what it means to be a...
Read More about Almost Paradise: New and Selected Poems and Translations