In his marvelous collection of sonnets on Buddhist thought, inspirations, and images, sonnets from the dhammapada, the impressive and practiced sonneteer Alex Guenther applies some of fthe same methods, skills, and sensitivity as he consistently does in all his sonnets. A main difference here is that, as he credits in his introductory pages, he is drawing on other works of translation of Buddhist teachings, most notably that of Gil Fronsdal, with whom he feels a great sympathy and in whom he senses a kindred spirit, as he records. But the rest is all his.
Guenther--as he has done in his previous two books, the deodar seeds and the heave, which I have fortunately had the opportunity and privilege to read and review, and as he has continued to do in his later collections and his multitudinous and multifarious daily output, many of which I have been lucky enough to encounter as he has tweeted/posted them on Twitter--is an entirely and shockingly unique artist, but a great one.
He reaches for a topic and topics aplenty he finds to hand, relating as always to the Buddhist practices, virtues, and outlook, which non-practitioners may find strange or alien to things already familiar and known or perhaps contemplated by those of them in his audience. By this method, making the strange or unusual more familiar and understandable, he shows how great a teacher he really is, in a belief system full of great teachers, for this is his belief system as well as the source of his own inspiration. It is not surprising to learn that he is also a literal and down-to-earth teacher of young people in "real life" as well.
In his teaching by sonnet, Guenther brings clarity to any obscurities in Buddhist thought (for example, his sonnets among the "26 Pali chapters" which he calls "the most well-known Buddhist text" are: "filters" through which we construct our realities, "awareness," human vagaries of thought, foolish people and their opposite, the making of "the wise," "evil," "violence," "old age," "the self," "the world" in both the physical and social senses, "happiness" "pleasure," "anger," "the just," "corruption," "the path" (as in "the way"), "hell," "the brahmin," and images important to the original writers, such as "flowers" and "elephants."
In addition to being a steadfast believer and teacher of Buddhist thought, however, Alex also teaches by example in his wonderful and extremely talented and innovative usage of the Petrarchan sonnet, just as he has done before, and continues to do in many varied ways. He has massively and manifestly increased the territory of the sonnet form by his general use of diverse and attention-getting, witty, original rhymes; his non-end stopped lines that spill over into the next line by sense, thus making the reader read for this sense and significance more than for a dogtrot sound; and the vast, encyclopedic knowledge he shows not only of people, but of the world and its scientific, artistic, architectural, and natural biological properties. Alex Guenther maintains in his daily life quite obviously a system of keeping up his own learning through his curiosity and willing approach to what the world puts before us that can be learned.
In concluding this review essay, it could well be said of Alex Guenther as of another--modest, unassuming but quite ambitious to find, celebrate, and share wisdom wherever it may be--the Clerk of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales--and here I translate from Middle English into Contemporary English: "And gladly would he learn, and gladly teach." We need so many more Alex Guenthers, poets, teachers, and explorers!
Alex lists as "additional info and links" in his book, these: alexguentherpoetry.wordpress.com, twitter.com/guentheralex [@guentheralex], facebook.com/alex.guenther.104, instagram.com/guentheralex.
I think he also is on substack (you can query him at twitter), and has been on Mastodon at least previously as @guentheralex@mastodon.social.
Come learn somthing significant and worthwhile in beautiful and well-crafted language!
This review by shadowoperator (Victoria Leigh Bennett)
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