USA: Poetry Episode Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder

Poets Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder briefly discuss why they write poetry and how they perceive the poetic process. Whalen wants his poetry to give the reader insight into Whalen's understanding of the world. Snyder wants his poetry to help the reader get back in touch with themselves and nature. Each poet reads from his work.

[@bcassclarke]

So good to hear Philip Whalen 's voice.

[@HerAeolianHarp]

Grateful for this upload. I like the patient pace of this documentary.

[@johnmcintyre1965]

Great to see a young Philip Whalen and an old San Francisco long gone now.

[@mesechabe]

Gary's birthday was yesterday, May 8. He's 91. Happy birthday, Gary.

[@BUKCOLLECTOR]

Enjoyed your poems. And your unique word choices enhanced the poems emotional impact and kept me engaged throughout. I’m a poet specializing in Japanese forms: haiku, tanka, haibun, kyoka, senryu. I hope you don’t mind me sharing a tanka and my haiku, a tribute poem to Bashō’s frog with commentary by the late AHA founder and poet Jane Reichhold who considered my Basho haiku among her top 10 haiku of all time. What an honor. Here’s the Bashō poem and commentary: Bashō’s frog four hundred years of ripples At first the idea of picking only 10 of my favorite haiku seemed a rather daunting task. How could I review all the haiku I have read in my life and decide that there were only 10 that were outstanding? Then realized I was already getting a steady stream of excellent haiku day by day through the AHA forum. The puns and write-offs based on Basho's most famous haiku are so numerous I would have said that nothing new could be said with this method, but here Al Fogel proved me wrong. Perhaps part of my delight in this haiku lies in the fact that I agree with him. Here he is saying one thing about realism-ripples are on a pond after a frog jumps in, but because it refers back to Basho and his famous haiku, he is also saying something about the haiku and authors who have followed him. We, and our work, are just ripples while Basho holds the honor of inventing the idea of the sound of a frog leaping is the sound of water As haiku spreads around the world, making ripples in more and larger ponds, its ripples are wider-including us all. But his last word reminds us all that we are ripples and our lives ephemeral. It will be the frogs that will remain. ~~ And my tanka: returning home from a Jackson Pollock exhibition I smear my face with paint and morph into art ~~ -All love in isolation from Miami Beach, Florida, Al

[@drrbrt]

This is some priceless world heritage footage.

[@Dr_Bombay]

Roshi Whalen and Gary Snyder! i bow, deeply.

[@walterwally983]

I'm here for Gary. ❤

[@molloyxx1]

This is so great. So hard and unforgiving at precisely the right moments. The bull's last sound.

[@adhesiveD32]

thanks for uploading all these vids!

[@friscochirinos]

A gem

[@webkahmik]

Damn, 1966. Surely wish they could've strong-armed Lew into doing this with them.

[@RobertSlover]

ring of bone is really impressive. lawrence ferlinghetti would have been cool too.

[@RobertSlover]

thanks for uploading its so cool to see and hear these poets whom you usually read. is this off a dvd collection?

[@CodyCarvel]

rob slover I wish they’d release them on DVD. these were collected on VHS over the years. still don’t have a few: Creeley, Anne Sexton...

[@RobertSlover]

wow this is transferred off of vhs? well done sir. a computer tech with phenomenal taste. thanks again for these its a real treat to watch.

[@animamagna3077]

when i was young the texts by whalen have been included in every anthology of modern american poetry. modernity is not the same these days. whalen is absent from it. alas alas.

[@jacpratt8608]

so this is early 1960s. before Gary Snyder went to Japan, or during that time, and before Philip Whalen became a Buddhist priest.

[@澈劼]

221011

[@shangrila73eldorado]

i brook no babble

[@BUKCOLLECTOR]

Enjoyed your poems. And your unique word choices enhanced the poems emotional impact and kept me engaged throughout. I’m a poet specializing in Japanese forms: haiku, tanka, haibun, kyoka, senryu. I hope you don’t mind me sharing a tanka and my haiku, a tribute poem to Bashō’s frog with commentary by the late AHA founder and poet Jane Reichhold who considered my Basho haiku among her top 10 haiku of all time. What an honor. Here’s the Bashō poem and commentary: Bashō’s frog four hundred years of ripples At first the idea of picking only 10 of my favorite haiku seemed a rather daunting task. How could I review all the haiku I have read in my life and decide that there were only 10 that were outstanding? Then realized I was already getting a steady stream of excellent haiku day by day through the AHA forum. The puns and write-offs based on Basho's most famous haiku are so numerous I would have said that nothing new could be said with this method, but here Al Fogel proved me wrong. Perhaps part of my delight in this haiku lies in the fact that I agree with him. Here he is saying one thing about realism-ripples are on a pond after a frog jumps in, but because it refers back to Basho and his famous haiku, he is also saying something about the haiku and authors who have followed him. We, and our work, are just ripples while Basho holds the honor of inventing the idea of the sound of a frog leaping is the sound of water As haiku spreads around the world, making ripples in more and larger ponds, its ripples are wider-including us all. But his last word reminds us all that we are ripples and our lives ephemeral. It will be the frogs that will remain. ~~ And my tanka: returning home from a Jackson Pollock exhibition I smear my face with paint and morph into art ~~ -All love in isolation from Miami Beach, Florida, Al