Winter Sky

by Barks, Coleman

• ISBN13: 9780820332376
• ISBN10: 0820332372
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2008-11-15
• Publisher: Univ of Georgia Pr

Summary

As the foremost translator of thirteenth-century mystic poet Jalal Al-Din Rumi, Coleman Barks reaches a devoted, inspired, and ever-widening international audience. Yet the foundation for Barks's work as a translator is his own significant body of work as a poet.Winter Skyoffers a selection from Barks's seven previously published books combined with a group of new poems.Barks's open-hearted, free verse poetry is infused with a joy of the spirit at play with the forms of the world. His journey through life is deeply embedded in his work. The poems spring directly from experience and engage with subjects such as the elation and struggle of having and raising children, grief over the deaths of loved ones, the transition from parent to grandparent, or the changing nature and intensity of desire. Barks's open letter to President Bush, written days before the invasion of Iraq and widely circulated online, is a poetic plea for peace, offering a startling and moving alternative to war.Whether it is the childhood excitement of being named best athlete at summer camp or the early signs of dementia at the age of seventy, Barks uses the personal to convey the universal. The unique flow of a life is here in poems that are rueful, confused, torn, and grateful, but always informed by Barks's transcendent sense of joy and playfulness.

Author Biography

Coleman Barks is the bestselling translator of The Essential Rumi, The Soul of Rumi, and Rumi: The Book of Love. He taught creative writing and American poetry in the English Department at the University of Georgia for thirty years and currently lives in Athens, Georgia.

Table of Contents

Notes in Lieu of Preface
2003-2008
New Poems
The Center	p. 3
Extravagance	p. 6
The Light in Everyone's Eyes	p. 8
As the Dew	p. 9
from There ain't nothing like it	p. 10
On Spirit	p. 11
From Scrapwood Man (2007)
Guidance We Have Need Of	p. 17
Reading in Bed	p. 18
from Notebooks	p. 19
Wine Poems	p. 20
The Speed of Consciousness and August 18th	p. 22
Car Trips	p. 23
The Return of Professor Dumwhistle	p. 24
These Winter Skies	p. 25
Losing It	p. 26
American College Students Overheard in a Restaurant After I Return from Afghanistan	p. 31
Just This Once	p. 33
from Central Asian Sufis and the Nature of the Heart	p. 38
1978-2002
From Tentmaking (2002)
Tentmaking	p. 45
Purring	p. 49
Divination	p. 50
Book Tour Cure for Talking Too Much in Public	p. 51
Question	p. 52
Bill Matthews Coming Along	p. 54
Black Rubber Ball	p. 55
Bridge	p. 57
Luke and the Duct Tape	p. 58
Whittling	p. 62
Spring Morning	p. 64
Lighton Leaves	p. 65
The Ant	p. 66
Abscission Leaf, Looking into Water	p. 69
Silo, Spring Violets	p. 71
The Final Final	p. 72
Currycombing	p. 74
Donald Hall Is Falling Down	p. 76
The Animal	p. 78
So Close, Not a Foot	p. 79
Love for Clouds	p. 80
1971 and 1942	p. 81
None Other	p. 85
Fly	p. 86
Stone	p. 87
Lard Gourd	p. 89
The Railing	p. 91
What We Learn from Literature	p. 92
These Very Feet	p. 94
The Look on the Dog's Face	p. 95
Grace	p. 96
Service	p. 97
The Saint and Sinner Bullshit	p. 98
Fine Arts Auditorium	p. 99
Night Train, Southern France	p. 101
Kingsnake	p. 103
Driving Back from the Mountains	p. 104
Straying	p. 106
Elegy for John Seawright	p. 107
From Club: Granddaughter Poems (2001)
No Finale	p. 115
Club	p. 116
Wietien	p. 117
To Make an Ocean	p. 118
Auspices	p. 120
Boxkite	p. 123
Dumb Chess	p. 124
Glad	p. 125
In Opening Game Day Traffic	p. 126
Poetry for Children	p. 127
From Gourd Seed (1993)
A Wish	p. 133
A Section of the Oconee Near Watkinsville	p. 134
Buttermilk	p. 135
The House of the Tibetan Bellmaker	p. 136
Higdon Cove	p. 137
The Great Blue Heron	p. 138
In the Woods, You and I	p. 141
Fried Green Tomato Sandwiches	p. 143
A Walk in the Botanical Gardens	p. 145
Bedclothes	p. 146
Titty-Bream	p. 148
Summer Food	p. 150
Kindling	p. 152
The Fire	p. 153
The Wind Today	p. 154
Orange Circles on Lavender Wings	p. 155
Let the Door Be Locked	p. 157
Hymenoptera	p. 159
Some Orange Juke	p. 161
Wrfc	p. 162
Walk Soup	p. 165
Each Peach	p. 168
The Tree	p. 170
Audience	p. 174
Spring Lizards	p. 176
The Grocery Store	p. 177
Vigil Notes	p. 179
New Year's Day Nap	p. 181
Darshan Singh and Christian Harmony	p. 186
Small Talk: Coffee, The Second Mike Poem, Three, Every Evening, The End of the Sentence, The Fucking Grave, Salt	p. 188
Becoming Milton	p. 204
Two-Hour Wait in Toronto	p. 206
Night Creek	p. 215
An Up-Till-Now-Uncelebrated Joy	p. 219
These Things, Hereafter	p. 220
Sleet	p. 224
The Brain-House	p. 226
Carolina Silverbells	p. 228
Fightingtown Creek	p. 230
Gourd Day	p. 232
A Hard-Cuss for Gourd Seed	p. 233
1967-1977
From We're Laughing at the Damage (1977)
Good night	p. 237
Snow	p. 238
Putting up a bowl, its true resting	p. 239
A flame is walking	p. 240
This is how we'd like	p. 241
From New Words (1976)
Sunbath in May	p. 247
The Last Rebirth	p. 249
The Hall Mirror	p. 251
Sand	p. 253
New Words	p. 254
From the Juice (1972)
Body Poems - Big Toe, Stomach, Elbow, Cheek, Heart, Brain, Appendix, Knuckles, Navel, Shoulder Blades, Jaw, Upper Lip, Adam's Apple, Small of the Back, Crown of the Hair, Tongue, Bags Under the Eyes, Nape, Jowl, Ear Lobe, Thighs, Achilles Tendon, Wrist, Hips, Eye, Blood, Semen, Cavities, Roof of the Mouth, Middle Finger, Genitals, Skull, Spine, Coccyx, Blind Spot, Lymph, Scar, Pelvis, Buttocks, Inner Ear, Goosepimples, Liver, Haunches, Back of the Knee, Dimple, Sleep, Spleen, Fingertips, Armpit, Uvula, Taste Buds, Spoor, Yawn, Tic, Nostrils, Blush, Halfgainer, Halftwist, Spit 'n Image, Hands, Rice, Caul, Shadow, Bosoms, Balls, Birthmark, Sound Made by
Snapping the Fingers	p. 267
Choosing	p. 284
Goat & Boy	p. 286
Five Ways Down Stringer's Ridge	p. 287
The Literal Snake	p. 291
The Afterlife	p. 292
The Oracle	p. 295
Nickajack Cave	p. 297
The Finger of Necessity	p. 299
The Mule	p. 300
The African Night Adder	p. 301
The Flag Page	p. 302
Taking a Nap Underneath My Desk	p. 305
Keats	p. 308
The Swim	p. 309
Notes	p. 311
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.