Gary Snyder

The Poetry of

photograph by Pamela Fong Gary Snyder

Lines on a Carp
by Gary Snyder

old fat fish of everlasting life in rank brown pools discarded by the river soft round-mouth nudging mud among the reeds, beside the railroad track

you will not hear the human cries but pines will grow between those ties before you turn your belly to the sun.

Magpie's Song
by Gary Snyder

Six A.M., Sat down on excavation gravel by juniper and desert S.P. tracks interstate 80 not far off between trucks Coyotes--maybe three howling and yapping from a rise.

Magpie on a bough Tipped his head and said,

"Here in the mind, brother Turquoise blue. I wouldn't fool you. Smell the breeze It came through all the trees No need to fear What's ahead Snow up on the hills west Will be there every year be at rest. A feather on the ground-- The wind sound--

Here in the Mind, Brother, Turquoise Blue"

As For Poets
by Gary Snyder

As for poets The Earth Poets Who write small poems, Need helf from no man.

The Air Poets Play out the swiftest gales And sometimes loll in the eddies. Poem after poem, Curling back on the same thrust.

At fifty below Fuel oil won't flow And propane stays in the tank. Fire Poets Burn absolute zero Fossil love pumped back up.

The first Water Poet Stayed down six years. He was covered with seaweed. The life in his poem Left millions of tiny Different tracks Criss-crossing through the mud.

With the Sun and Moon In his belly, The Space Poet Sleeps. No end to the sky-- But his poems, Like wild geese, Fly off the edge.

A Mind Poet Stays in the house. The house is empty And it has no walls. The poem Is seen from all sides, Everywhere, At once.

The Great Mother
by Gary Snyder

Not all who pass

in front of the Great Mother's chair

Get passt with only a stare.

Some she looks at their hands

To see what sort of savages they were.

Pine Needles
by Gary Snyder

some raindrops still clinging --I brought you these pine boughs

--you look like you'd jump up & put your hot cheek against the green, fiercely thrust your cheek into the blue pine needles greedily --you're going to startle the others-- did you want to go to the woods that much? burning with fever tormented by sweat and pain

And me working happily in the sunlight Thinking of you, walking slowly through the trees "Oh I'm all right now it's like you brought the center of the forest right here..."

Like a bird or a squirrel you long for the woods. how you must envy me, my sister, who this very day must travel terribly far. can you manage it alone? ask me to go with you crying--ask me-- your cheeks however how beautiful they are.

I'll put these fresh pine boughs on top of the mosquito net they may drip a little ah, a clean smell like turpentine.

How Zen Masters Are Like Mature Herring
by Gary Snyder

So few become full grown
And how necessary all the others;
gifts to the food chain,
feeding another universe.

These big ones feed sharks.

The Genji Story
by Gary Snyder

I once had a gray brindle tomcat named Genji
who would run off for days at a time
& come back to my pad & I'd feed him
with horsemeat
& put medicine in his swoll eye.
His ears tattered up & his hide
full of scratches
he'd sit on my lap while I read,
then he'd go through a gap in the window
& he made out much better than I.

I went off to a job in the mountains
and Genji got left with a friend
after a week Genji ran off
& was never seen again.
that was some years ago,
at the moment I wonder
since I raised him from a kitten and fed him
quite well,
if he's healthy & strong from the horsemeat
we shared then
now living on scraps in wild streets
where he dwells

Seaman's Ditty
by Gary Snyder

I'm wondering where you are now
Married, or mad, or free:
Whereever you are you're likely glad,
But memory troubles me.

We could've had us children,
We could've had a home--
But you thought not, and I thought not,
And these nine years we roam.

Today I worked in the deep dark tanks,
And climbed out to watch the sea:
Gulls and salty waves pass by,
And mountains of Araby.

I've travelled the lonely oceans
And wandered the lonely towns.
I've learned a lot and lost a lot,
And proved the world was round.

Now if we'd stayed together,
There's much we'd never've known--
But dreary books and weary lands
Weigh on me like a stone.

Bakers Cabin On Boone's Ferry Road
by Gary Snyder

Frogs all night
there white ducks
chanting down the pond
the yowling of the Siamese in heat
the hot iron thud on spitting shirts
Dampish firewood squeaks and burns.
four kittens and a baby squall
in boxes by the kitchen stove.

A Note From The Webmaster

The poems above are written by Mr. Gary Snyder. A man that I have long lived to admire. He traveled with those such as Jack Kerouac and is the "zen cat" Japhy in "The Dharma Bums" by Kerouac.

I feel that it does no man justice to measure him by his standing as a "beat" poet. For when you take Mr. Snyder and examine his poetry at face value, you find the character of a zen poet... a simple humble man of the earth that can take the most overlooked things in the world... the most rugged and the most sensual articles and make them into a masterpiece that shows what his heart is feeling.

These poems above come from Mr. Snyder's book "Turtle Island" a book that won a Pulitzer Prize from poetry in 1975 (a true accomplishment for any poet). his works include...

Earth House Hold
Myths and Texts
Regarding Wave
The Real Work: Interviews and Talks, 1964-1979
Turtle Island

Buy A Gary Snyder Book Online

Lines on a Carp by Gary Snyder

Magpie's Song by Gary Snyder

As For Poets by Gary Snyder

The Great Mother by Gary Snyder

Pine Needles by Gary Snyder

How Zen Masters Are Like Mature Herring by Gary Snyder

The Genji Story by Gary Snyder

Seaman's Ditty by Gary Snyder

Bakers Cabin On Boone's Ferry Road by Gary Snyder