Mad Monk Ikkyu Journeys to the Temple

 My Mad monk Ikkyu book is available for preorder.

After years of writing poems and memoir pieces about my parents and their experiences in the slave labor camps in Germany, I somehow started writing poems about the monk Ikkyu, a 15th century Japanese monk, a Buddhist.  What appealed to me about him was his sense of humor and his love for people and his awareness of the darker side of life.  In a lot of ways, I guess, he reminded me of my dad. 

The book is coming out in June, and is now available in preorder from the publisher, finishing line press.

Here’s the cover for my Finishing Line Press book of Ikkyu poems.

The cover illustration is by my friend, the wonderful artist,  Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk who took time out from working on his paintings of Dante’s Inferno.

I asked him to do a cover and sent him the manuscript to read.  Through some incredible convergence of cosmic invibration, he decided to base his image for the cover on my favorite Ikkyu poem.

Here it is: 

Ikkyū sits 

in the marketplace

and tries to explain 

everything.

Here’s what he says

to a soldier:

A tree is 

the palm of my hand 

and the face 

of all there is 

in the universe 

to wonder about.

It is the tree to heaven 

and its roots start 

in my heart and yours.

—

The book in fact is available for preorder already!  

Here’s the link 

https://www.finishinglinepress.com/product/mad-monk-ikkyu-by-john-guzlowski/

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