The reissued ecstatic poetry classic Kabir, with ten newly translated poems added to the original collection
Originally published in 1976, with more than 75,000 copies in print, this collection of poems by fifteenth-century ecstatic poet Kabir is full of fun and full of thought. Columbia University professor of religion John Stratton Hawley has contributed an introduction that makes clear Kabir’s immense importance to the contemporary reader and praises Bly’s intuitive translations.
By making every reader consider anew their religious thinking, the poems of Kabir seem as relevant today as when they were first written.
“Kabir’s poems give off a marvelous radiant intensity that never fails…they have exactly the luminous depth that permits and invites many rereadings.” —Hayden Carruth, New York Times Book Review
“One of the luminous experiences of American poetry… Kabir is a poet who connects the modes of thinking, feeling, intuition and sensation at every turn of thought and phrase.” —Jonathan Cott, Rolling Stone
“Robert Bly earns the thanks of us all. I, for one, will reread [Bly’s Kabir] often. Kabir can be seen as a welcome member to that brotherhood of mystic American poets, novelists and painters.” —Paul Carroll, The American Poetry Review
“Without Bly, modern American poetry would be unrecognizable in its current form. Without his poems, his translations, and his devotion to poetry, American literature would have taken a different turn in its rich and influential history.” —Ray Gonz¬¨‚àëlez, The Bloomsbury Review