Almost Paradise: New and Selected Poems and Translations

Sam Hamill's work as a writer has arced from translator of (mostly Asian) classics to his own poetry and essays to editing and publishing poetry of others to birthing Poets Against the War. In "Almost Paradise," selections from his translations comprise the first third of the compilation, and his own poetry constitutes the remainder. The former are necessary for anyone drawn to the poetry of Hamill's ancient "Travelling Companions," as he calls them -- Lao Tzu, Sappho, Basho and others; the latter are more needful, as they inform the reader of Hamill's own engagement with poets and publishing, systems of belief and their consequences, friendship, marital love, governments and the betrayals of war. As such "Almost Paradise" is a split-level collection. One may take the first section as a sampler of translation from a writer of highest standing, if gathered with less didactic intent than his co-authored volume, "The Poetry of Zen," or represented elsewhere intact in his beautifully rendered "Tao te Ching." The second section reveals, in his own, often longer-form poems, the wrestlings, frustrations and determinations of a poet vowed to be about peace, until all may experience paradise together. [It is also interesting to read Hamill alongside his late conversation partner and fellow poet committed to peace, Denise Levertov, as they reference each other in their respective writings.]