Bottom Dog Press, Inc.

100 poems by Japan’s great poet Taigu Ryōkan (1758-1831) included in English, original Chinese, and  in Japanese, translated by poets Mei Hui Liu Huang and Larry Smith.

With an introduction "Taigu Ryokan: Great Fool" by Larry Smith.

Contains  Poems of Children  童 心; My Hut  草 庵; Travel Poems  行 腳 ; Poems of Friendship  友 情 ; A Monk’s Journal  僧 侶 生 涯 ; Spring Poems  春 ; Summer Poems  夏 ; Fall Poems  秋 ; Winter Poems  冬 ; Poems of Aging  成 長 ; Zen Meditations  禪 思 .

 “These poems, wise and direct, have been rightly treasured for centuries because of the way they expand the mind and refresh the spirit. That is their nature in their original language, and Smith and Huang have managed, with great care and affection, to recreate that nature in English.”  -David Young, poet and translator

Smith and Huang are the translators of Chinese Zen Poems: What Hold Has This Mountain and  Songs of the Woodcutter: Zen Poems of Wang Wei and Taigu Ryōkan.

Sample Poems

Hear Larry Smith reading Ryokan with Mone Page flute accompaniment

and

Watch a Youtube video of the Poems of Inviation

Edited by Ray McNiece and Larry Smith

This America Zen Poets gathering includes: NIN ANDREWS (Ohio), DAVID BUDBILL (Vermont), THOMAS RAIN CROWE (North Carolina), KATHE DAVIS (Ohio), DIANE DI PRIMA (California), STANFORD M. FORRESTER (Connecticut), TESS GALLAGHER (Washington), MARGARET GIBSON (Connecticut), JOHN GILGUN (Missouri), NETTA GILLESPIE (Illinois), SAM HAMILL (Washington), WILLIAM HEYEN (New York), JANE HIRSHFIELD (California), HOLLY HUGHES (Washington), MARY SUE KOEPPEL (Florida), MARK KUHAR (Ohio), MAC LOJOWSKY (California), RAY MCNIECE (Ohio), TOM MONTAG (Wisconsin), SHIN YU PAI (Massachusetts) * PAUL S. PIPER (Washington), MAJ RAGAIN (Ohio), DAVID RAY (Arizona), SEIDO RAY RONCI (Missouri), ANDREW SCHELLING (Colorado), PAUL SKYRM (Ohio), LARRY SMITH (Ohio), TONY TRIGILIO (Illinois), CHASE TWICHELL (New York), and ANNE WALDMAN (New York).

A Big wonderful collection of American Poets writing in the spirit of Zen.

260 pgs.  978-0-933087-91-0 $15.00

CD with Booklet...Larry Smith reading the poems with Monte Page on flute. Includes a 16 page booklet of the poems of Zen poets Wang Wei & Taigu Ryokan. Translations by Larry Smith and Mei Hui Liu Huang.

Now Out of Print

An expert collection of Chinese poems in the Zen spirit, compiled and translated by Mei Hui Liu Huang and Larry Smith for Bottom Dog Press.