The blue mountains walk to the kitchen and back to the shop

 

Last night I heard Beat poet Gary Snyder give a reading at Colorado State University.  His humility, humor, warmth and large-mindedness gave me hope that when I reach 84, I too have a chance to remain vibrant and youthful.  The fact that Snyder still goes hiking was evidenced by the mountain daypack he had on hand to haul his various books and papers around. No briefcase for THIS poet!

I've always loved Snyder's ability to interfuse the human and natural worlds in his poetry and prose, a gift that comes in part from his lifelong immersion in the study and practice of Zen Buddhism.  This interfusion is especially evident in the following passage, taken from an essay entitled "Blue Mountains Constantly Walking,"  based in part on the fact that he lives in the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California:

"The blue mountains walk to the kitchen and back to the shop, to the desk, to the stove. We sit on the park bench and let the wind and rain drench us.  The blue mountains walk out to put another coin in the parking meter, and go on down to the 7-Eleven . . . [Zen master Dogen says] 'such mountains and waters of themselves become wise persons and sages' - become sidewalk vendors and noodlecooks, become marmots, ravens, graylings, carp, rattlesnakes, mosquitoes.  ALL beings are 'said' by the mountains and waters - even the clanking tread of a Caterpillar tractor, the gleam of the keys of a clarinet."

Photos: (Top) Mountains turned smoky-blue by forest fire smoke, Crater Lake National Park, OR; July 27, 2014; (Middle) Clouds reflected in Crater Lake; July 27, 2014; (Bottom) Mummy Mountain at sunset, Rocky Mountain National Park, CO; September 15, 2014