MY SECOND BLOG post, MY BBC TALE, AND WITH THESE WINGS WE HAVE ...
I feel I have so much to say. I feel so much has been planted in me in some remarkable and extraordinary ways. So I sing it out the best I can in the some 1000 poems I have published with Penguin so far in seven books. And in the literally some 10,000 of unpublished poems I have; but most of those being a free-style haiku. Like these two I like:
consciously walking
buddha tickles
feet
and this one:
her tracks in snow
proof the moon
followed me home
Seems I have been the packhorse for a rarely inspired literary work. And sure feel at times it is all some kind of crazy, though wonderful miracle that has reached millions in the world. My name on books indeed amazes me.
Health and time allowing, I plan to start posting little chapters as it were from my life. And some of my thoughts of life. And I am sure I will be posting some poems, some spontaneously written midstream, as I just did at the end of this blog; and just added in— in rereading this: those two haiku up yonder. I hope to start posting something once a week.
I want to talk about the many book titles I have on the stove, and offer some writings from them. And delve into other writing projects, like my play and maybe screenplay: Michelangelo the Teacher. And at some point, maybe some ten blogs into all this ... I want to address very directly some, what seems to me: harsh and untrue criticism of my poetry work over the last some 25 years of being published. And I want to tell some very special dreams I have had connected to my work -- and my life, even though only someone on the level of a Carl Jung, or beyond, might more understand their importance.
Yeah, so much to say it feels.
About my 'BBC Tale.’ See link here, and the lines that follow:
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20170109-the-mystical-poet-who-can-help-you-lead-a-better-life
It was in 2016 that the BBC approached Penguin books, now Penguin Random House, and told me The BBC was wanting to get in touch with me about writing an article on Hafiz. Penguin told me that they had suggested to the BBC that they (the BBC) get in touch with a Persian scholar (whom Penguin also publishes), but the BBC first wanted to contact me; and they did.
So I waded into this article with them with the full understanding that they may or may not publish the article. And if they did, they would have full approval over it and full control of the title— which is all theirs. My choice of titles was: “The Utility of the Sun.” So guess we fiddled with it for maybe two months and the results of that can now be seen by clicking this link. And I understand it received a lot of favorable attention and even from a couple big Middle Eastern newspapers.
The reader of what can be heard on the BBC piece is Melissa LaScaleia. She was in Italy at the time the article was accepted and flew over to London and recorded what you can hear. Melissa has been a close friend for years and is a private editor for me and something of an agent too. And she also designed this blog, website.
Seems enough said, this blog. And enough time given to me, especially if any should read the BBC piece, which in some ways I think does Hafiz some real justice, and offers some of my work on Hafiz that is presently published nowhere else. And very thankful to the BBC for asking me to write it, and offer some points they wanted me to address, which I did.
But OOO. Also want to say. That I feel I wrote an important short essay, that is titled: 'My Portrait of Hafiz,’ dated April 18, 2005, that I posted at Amazon. To any interested in some of the controversy around my work, that might be helpful to some. If you Google that title and the date it should pop up.
In closing:
I had these thoughts just the other day, and some this morning, about why some may love poetry. They are written in the form of verse now, being:
Find a wing more unfurled than yours,
bet it won't mind if ya sit there a while
and look around.
Yes, that 'sitting there' can be a kind of oasis, or elite classroom, or maybe even an orbiting of some kind of sun. An orbiting of some kind of sun (even an entering) I think is what happens when ones experiences great literature or great art, or great companionship, or a beautiful dancing with something.
With these wings we have,
who does not want to taste
more of the sky, and more
of the earth, and more of the
wonder in others, and in the
vital, vital freedom we need.
'When has love not unfurled the wing?'
--Hafiz
Thanks for your time, and a big hug.