Stupid Motivational Tricks / Bemsha Swing

Scholarly writing and how to get it done. / And a workshop for my own ideas, scholarly and poetic

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Monday, June 15, 2020

I don't know where to start

"I want to give credit where credit is due: I do like Ladinsky's poetry. And they do contain mystical insights. Some of the statements that Ladinsky attributes to Hafez are, in fact, mystical truths that we hear from many different mystics. And he is indeed a gifted poet. See this line, for example:
I wish I could show you 
when you are lonely or in darkness 
the astonishing light of your own being.
That is good stuff. Powerful. And many mystics, including the 20th-century Sufi master Pir Vilayat, would cast his powerful glance at his students, stating that he would long for them to be able to see themselves and their own worth as he sees them. So yes, Ladinsky's poetry is mystical. And it is great poetry. So good that it is listed on Good Reads as the wisdom of "Hafez of Shiraz." The problem is, Hafez of Shiraz said nothing like that. Daniel Ladinsky of St Louis did." 

So that is great poetry in English? But Ladinsky is a total fraud, inventing poems out of whole cloth. My outrage has no limits. 
Jonathan at 8:30 PM

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