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Gary Snyder

Gary Snyder

Kisiabaton

Beat-up datsun idling in the road
shreds of fog
almost-vertical hillsides drop away
huge stumps fading into mist
soft warm rain
 
Snaggy, forked and spreading tops, a temperate cloud-forest tree
 
Chamaecyparis formosiana—
Taiwan hinoki,
hung-kuai     red cypress
 
That the tribal people call kisiabaton
 
this rare old tree
is what we came to see.

From No Nature

#AmericanWriters

Other works by Gary Snyder...
Getting in the Wood

The sour smell, blue stain, water squirts out round the wedge, Lifting quarters of rounds covered with ants,
 1
Axe Handles

One afternoon the last week in Ap… Showing Kai how to throw a hatche… One-half turn and it sticks in a s… He recalls the hatchet-head Without a handle, in the shop
A Maul for Bill and Cindy’s Wedding

Swung from the toes out, Belly-breath riding on the knuckle… The ten-pound maul lifts up, Sails in an arc overhead, And then lifts you!
Mid-August at Sourdough Mountain Lookout

Down valley a smoke haze Three days heat, after five days r… Pitch glows on the fir-cones Across rocks and meadows Swarms of new flies.
 1
Waiting for a Ride

Standing at the baggage passing ti… Austin Texas airport—my ride hasn… My former wife is making websites… one son’s seldom seen, the other one and his wife have a…
At Tower Peak

Every tan rolling meadow will turn… Freeways are clogged all day Academies packed with scholars wri… City people lean and dark This land most real
 1
Night Song of The Los Angeles Basin

Owl calls, pollen dust blows Swirl of light strokes writhing knot-tying light paths,
Kyoto: March

A few light flakes of snow Fall in the feeble sun; Birds sing in the cold, A warbler by the wall. The plum Buds tight and chill soon bloom.
 1
I Went into the Maverick Bar

I went into the Maverick Bar In Farmington, New Mexico. And drank double shots of bourbon backed with beer. My long hair was tucked up under a…
Saying Farewell at the Monastery after Hearing the Old Master Lecture on “Return to the Source”

At the last turn in the path “goodbye—” —bending, bowing, (moss and a bit of wild
A Dent in a Bucket

Hammering a dent out of a bucket a woodpecker answers from the woods
The Dance

Izanami gave birth to rocks, trees, rivers… and last, a blazing child so burned she died. In the land of darkness
Endless Streams and Mountains

Clearing the mind and sliding in to that created space, a web of waters steaming over rock… air misty but not raining, seeing this land from a boat on a…
Meeting the Mountains

He crawls to the edge of the foami… He backs up the slab ledge He puts a finger in the water He turns to a trapped pool Puts both hands in the water
 1
Four Poems for Robin

Siwashing it out once in Siuslaw… I slept under rhododendron All night blossoms fell Shivering on a sheet of cardboar… Feet stuck in my pack



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