The Vietnamese-American Zen Buddhist poet and novelist Ocean Vuong has been named one of the 2019 fellows of the MacArthur Foundation.
The Life-Changing Words of Mary Oliver
In this Lion’s Roar archive article, Rick Bass looks at Oliver’s poem “The Summer Day,” which asks, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”
Smokey the Bear Sutra
In 1969, poet Gary Snyder wrote his “Smokey the Bear Sutra,” imagining Smokey as the Great Sun Buddha giving a discourse, in the style of a Buddhist sutra. Fifty years later, the message of the sutra continues to resonate.
Maryland’s Poet Laureate on How Poetry Slows You Down
“People find out who they are by writing,” says Maryland poet laureate Grace Cavalieri. At 86, Cavalieri tells Haleigh Atwood, she’s still writing.
Who Was Otagaki Rengetsu?
Grace Schireson on the life, art, and poetics of the Zen nun Otagaki Rengetsu, a woman “humbled by life’s blows as well as its beauty.”
W.S. Merwin, US Poet Laureate and Zen Buddhist, dies at 91
W.S. Merwin, the American poet, environmental activist, and two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, died Friday March 15 at his home in Haiku, Hawaii, on the island of Maui. He was 91.
The Oral Tradition of W.S. Merwin
The poet W.S. Merwin died on March 15, age 91. In this essay, published in Lion’s Roar magazine in 2011, Susan Dunlap contemplates Merwin’s poem “Vixen.”
How to Do Gatha Practice
By reciting the short verses known as gathas, says Zachiah Murray, we transform any activity into an opportunity to awaken to our true nature.
Ursula K. Le Guin on Housman’s Classic Poem “From Far”
Ursula K. Le Guin unpacks the rhythm and wisdom of A.E. Housman’s classic poetry.
Love Letters Sent by the Wind
“A single night of love is better than a hundred thousand years of sterile meditation,” he wrote. The life and poetry of Ikkyu, translated by John Stevens.