Barbara Moraff

Vermont poet, BARBARA MORAFF recently sent a letter regarding a project she is fundraising for in honor of her much loved son, Marco Moraff Alonzo, who died April 18, 2007. Although diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, Marco lived far beyond his normal life expectancy with a passion for painting, gardening, sculpture and writing. He taught organic gardening for youngsters at the White River Junction Community Gardens. Barbara is currently collecting funds for a three-stage composting facility for the White River Community Gardens in Marco's honor.

Donations can be mailed to:

Barbara Moraff
76 Harveys' Hollow Road
Danville, VT 05828

Click on her name above to link to her wikipedia biography and list of publishers and publications. A couple of summers ago while I cooked for a two week retreat at Karme Choling in Barnet, Vermont, l met Barbara again after 20 years when we first attended Chogyam Trungpa's last 3 month seminary retreat together back in 1986. She makes the most extraordinary Tibetan Barley Bread that she sells along with her pottery to supplement her income. Along with her recent letter, she sent a fine Longhouse limited edition book, Footprints.

Online poetry from Barbara Moraff
Three Poems for Cid Corman

Here's a great photo of Barbara and Allen Ginsberg circa 1959, I found on Kingdom Books blog [Allen Ginsberg and Barbara Moraff at 7 Arts Coffee Gallery, NYC, 1959; photo by Dave Heath]. You can also read more on Barbara on their site.

Robin Kornman (1947-2007) Translator of Gesar of Ling

Professor Robin Kornman, reknowned Tibetan translator and scholar of the Tibetan Gesar of Ling epic died peacefully on July 31 after a long illness. Robin was a life-long student of the late Tibetan master, Chogyam Trungpa, founder of Naropa University, whom he met in his youth. As a translator of Tibetan literature, Robin was part of the Nalanda translation team who worked on The Rain of Wisdom, one of the first collections of Tibetan poetry translated into English.

For decades Robin devoted his life to working on translating the
Gesar of Ling epic, the longest epic in world literature believed to be over 1000 years old and still widely performed through out Central Asia. While a number of translations exist of the Gesar epic, Robin's unique gift and exacting scholarship rivals many of these translations. For an exquisite taste of his elegant language, click here, to access some examples. The Gesar of Ling represents a living Heroic epic cycle where the forces of good and evil are played out in the human realm. In Robin's own words:

The Tibetan Epic of Gesar of Ling is an immense oral epic which is still sung by bards. It exists in literally hundreds of volumes, some of them transcriptions of bardic performances, others original compositions.

The Gesar is a vast treasury of Inner Asian literary culture. It is still sung today in Tibet and is known in different languages and editions along the Silk Route and throughout the Far East. It contains long sections of prose narration alternating with hundreds of epic ballads and examples of every sort of poetry in the Tibetan repertoire, both folk and classical. In size it is like The Arabian Nights. In its breadth, unity, and seriousness, it is like the Homeric epics or the Mahabharata.
It tells the story of a enlightened warrior named Gesar. At the beginning of the epic he is a Buddhist deity named Good News, living peaceably in a Buddhist heaven. The Tibetan tantric sorceror, Padmasambhava, and the bodhisattva of compassion, Avalokiteshvara, attempt to involve him in worldly affairs. These events are reported in the extremely metaphysical first volume of the epic, the Lha gLing or The Divine Land of Ling.

During the years I worked for the poet, Allen Ginsberg, Robin met with Allen on a number of occasions for feedback on his translations into English. For a fine article on Robin, read Larry Mermelstein's recollection.

Tibetan Poets Featured in Cutthroat Magazine

Two Tibetan activist/poets, Lhasang Tsering and Tenzin Tsundue, are featured in the current issue of Cutthroat Magazine, Vol. 3, Summer 2007 Issue. Click on the title above to access the online version.
For further links to Tenzin Tsundue's work, click here.

Both poets represent the movement toward an independent Tibet from exile. They are also featured in the anthology, Muses in Exile [ISBN : 81-86230-48-3 Publisher : Paljor Publications Pvt. Ltd], the first major anthology of contemporary Tibetan poets in English writing outside Tibet.

Palestinian Poet, Mahmoud Darwish, Reported in the NY TImes Today

Palestinain Poet, Mahmoud Darwish Blasts Infighting [NYTimes, AP, July 16,2007]

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- The world's most recognized Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, delivered a stinging tirade against Palestinian infighting on Sunday in his first public appearance in decades in the Israeli city of Haifa.
Click here to continue article.

In Jerusalem
by Mahmoud Darwish
Translated by Fady Joudah

In Jerusalem, and I mean within the ancient walls,
I walk from one epoch to another without a memory
to guide me. The prophets over there are sharing
the history of the holy . . . ascending to heaven
and returning less discouraged and melancholy, because love
and peace are holy and are coming to town.
I was walking down a slope and thinking to myself: How
do the narrators disagree over what light said about a stone?
Is it from a dimly lit stone that wars flare up?

(excerpt from poets.org) To view the entire poem click here.

For a collection of audio poems in English and Arabic by Darwish click here.
For the same news article about Darwish's recent public appearance in Haifa, click here for Haaretz coverage in Israel.

"Among the predominantly Arab-Israeli crowd that assembled to hear Darwish were Jews- some of whom didn't even speak Arabic and could not understand what was being said.

Ilana Shahaf, who organizes an annual poetry festival in the Negev kibbutz of Sde Boker, said that she came to share in the Arab public's excitement. "I wanted to feel a stranger among the words. As I climbed up the stairs with the crowd, I felt really excited for them. After all, no Hebrew-speaking poet today can generate this kind of excitement," she explained."

If you can stomach it, the long list of hate comments following the article in Haaretz is quite an education in relentless bitterness and hatred.

Smith College Tibetan Literary Arts Exhibition

The exhibition catalog may be purchased from the Shang Shung Institute of America located in Conway, MA. Write: will@shangshung.org for information. The catalog which was spopnsored in part by the SSI, includes a diverse collection of writings by leading scholars in the field.