On his Guru Viking podcast, Steve James hosts a conversation with Henry Shukman, British poet, Zen teacher, and author of ‘One Blade of Grass; a Zen memoir’; and John Brehm, American poet and author of ‘The Dharma of Poetry’.
Henry and John share the story of their formations as poets, compare the similarities as well as the marked differences in their backgrounds, and reveal the powerful forces that inspire the creative process.
They discuss the purpose and process of writing poetry, reflect on poetry as a means of contact with the sacred, and contrast the richness of poetry with attentional practices such as mindfulness and Zen—and they also perform and discuss several of their poems, including “Walk the Talk”, “Swifts”, “Yahrzeit”, and “Finis Ter”.