Daniel Ladinsky

Hard to rate a book at times. Did I like the book? Yes. Did I like the poems a lot? Well, they were pretty simple but nice. Did I like the little cartoon drawings by Patrick McDonnell a lot? Actually, I think a lot. When you put the two of them together, the words and drawings work very well.

The words in the poems are simple, someone looking for deep thoughts maybe look somewhere else. I find it amazing how good words are powerful even if you don’t have a lot of other words going with it. show more I only need to think of some of my favorite words I like; tea, bookcases, dogs, and they make me feel something good. In this book the poems are about love, and dogs, and cats, and the moon. The poems and pictures in the book are happy little things that create the desired effect. I will add a couple of them to my review here, but without the drawings, I think you may only feel like 30 percent of it.

one of the top ten things in a dog’s life: fetch

if it wasn’t
for fetch i would
never be
(next page)
the wonderful
being
I am

the park

the dog park,
the dog park,
the glorious dog park…
(next page)
need
anyone ever, ever & ever
say more

fully at play

love
is all beings
being
fully at play
with no dogcatchers
around

tattooed

a rainbow
tattooed itself
to a trout show less

Although these are not direct translations of their originals, the power and insight first expressed by these poets is still very present. Each section holds something thought-provoking and eye-opening about God, ourselves, or the world in general that I think can be seen regardless of the reader's religious background if encountered with an open heart. Divine love is deeply manifested in this work, and I will definitely treasure it for years to come.

Oh my gosh, awesome book! Simple translations and the visuals of the text get on your nerves after awhile, but the material is amazing. Although I'm really interested how others would translate these, I've got so many of these poems marked. They feel like the beauty of the thought was the key factor in the translation and not a word for word translation. Any of the poems in the St. Teresa of St. John sections are wonderful mines to meditate on. Hafiz and Rabia were some really nice finds, show more but St Thomas Aquinas really surprised me with the intamacy that he uses. Here's a gem from the book by Hafiz: "Two Giant Fat People" God/ and I have become/ like two giant fat people living/ in a tiny/ boat./ We/ keep bumping into/ each other/ and/ laughing. show less

Hard to rate a book at times. Did I like the book? Yes. Did I like the poems a lot? Well, they were pretty simple but nice. Did I like the little cartoon drawings by Patrick McDonnell a lot? Actually, I think a lot. When you put the two of them together, the words and drawings work very well.

The words in the poems are simple, someone looking for deep thoughts maybe look somewhere else. I find it amazing how good words are powerful even if you don’t have a lot of other words going with it. show more I only need to think of some of my favorite words I like; tea, bookcases, dogs, and they make me feel something good. In this book the poems are about love, and dogs, and cats, and the moon. The poems and pictures in the book are happy little things that create the desired effect. I will add a couple of them to my review here, but without the drawings, I think you may only feel like 30 percent of it.

one of the top ten things in a dog’s life: fetch

if it wasn’t
for fetch i would
never be
(next page)
the wonderful
being
I am

the park

the dog park,
the dog park,
the glorious dog park…
(next page)
need
anyone ever, ever & ever
say more

fully at play

love
is all beings
being
fully at play
with no dogcatchers
around

tattooed

a rainbow
tattooed itself
to a trout show less