The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy by John Brehm: book review

The Poetry of Impermanence, Mindfulness, and Joy (2017) is a collection of 130 poems from 64 poets, spanning centuries, continents, and countries.

The poems are divided into three parts, as per the title: impermanence, mindfulness, and joy.

Part 1 on Impermanence (45 poems) includes the poetry of Tu Fu (Du Fu), Matsuo Basho, Han Shan, Ryokan, Saigyo, Robert Frost, James Schulyer, William Butler Yeats, William Shakespeare, Po Chu-i, A.R. Ammons, Su Tung-P’o, Kobayashi Issa, Kay Ryan, Lucia Perillo, William Carlos Williams, Kenneth Rexroth, Andrea Hollander, Ellen Bass, William Wordsworth, Frank O’Hara, Ron Padgett, Philip Larkin, Tomas Transtromer, Yannis Ritsos, Ruth Stone, Czeslaw Milosz, Bill Knott, Pablo Neruda, Walt Whitman, Yusef Komunyakaa, Anna Kamienska, Ikkyu Sojun, Eihei Dogen, Yosa Buson, and Jack Kerouac.

Part 2 on Mindfulness (43 poems) includes the poetry of Billy Collins, Wallace Stevens, Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, Ikkyu Sojun, William Stafford, Dick Allen, D.H. Lawrence, A.R. Ammons, Denise Levertov, Anna Swir, Wei Ying-Wu, Yosa Buson, Li Po, William Carlos Williams, Kobayashi Issa, Adam Zagajewski, Robert Frost, Wislawa Szymborska, Bronislaw Maj, Ezra Pound, Old Shoju, Ron Padgett, Jane Hirschfield, Elizabeth Bishop, Shido Bunan, Eihei Dogen, Ryokan, Walt Whitman, Philip Larkin, Po Chu-i, and Matsuo Basho.

Part 3 on Joy (42 poems) includes the poetry of Ryokan, Su Tung-P’o, Kobayashi Issa, Chuang-Tzu, Han Shan, Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, James Wright, Pablo Neruda, Jack Gilbert, Tomas Transtromer, Marilyn Krysal, Saigyo, William Stafford, Jacques Prevert, Walt Whitman, Po Chu-i, Ron Padgett, Anna Swir, Yannis Ritsos, A.R. Ammons, Fernando Pessoa, Tracy K. Smith, Billy Collins, Marianne Moore, Alicia Ostriker, William Carlos Williams, and Paulann Petersen.

One of my favourites is the Chinese poet Du Fu (712-770) of the Tang dynasty, so I found it delightful that Brehm opened with one of his poems. Brehm includes many Buddhist poets, but also other poets that reflect a similar philosophy. Hence, there is a sense of peacefulness within each poem.

Apart from an introduction to the three themes, there are also bibliographical notes to set the poems within their historical contexts, and a guided meditation on sounds.

It is a great collection for the 2020s, bringing understanding and compassion amid times of uncertainty, ups and downs, and sorrow, with spirituality and a touch of humour.

In summary, brilliant!

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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