William Stanley Merwin, 82, has been named Poet Laureate of the United States. He resides in Hawaii, where he moved in the 1970s to study Zen Buddhism. A two-time winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, he now devotes the bulk of his time to cultivating endangered species of plants.
Although it spawned a book, few seem to remember that Merwin was at the heart of a firestorm of controversy surrounding the late Trungpa Rinpoche -- who on one occasion reportedly found Merwin to be unbearably uptight, aloof, and patronizing.
The controversy stemmed from a superficially alcohol-related incident on Halloween, 1975, involving Merwin, his companion Dana Naone, the "Vajra Guard," forced nudity, a broken bottle, and the poet's eye. Addressing the incident, Merwin later offered this uptight, aloof, and patronizing comment:
The controversy stemmed from a superficially alcohol-related incident on Halloween, 1975, involving Merwin, his companion Dana Naone, the "Vajra Guard," forced nudity, a broken bottle, and the poet's eye. Addressing the incident, Merwin later offered this uptight, aloof, and patronizing comment:
The New York Times (their photo, above) is reporting that some things don't change."My feelings about Trungpa have been mixed from the start. Admiration, throughout, for his remarkable gifts; and reservations, which developed into profound misgivings, concerning some of his uses of them. I imagine, at least, that I've learned some things from him (though maybe not all of them were the things I was 'supposed' to learn) and some through him, and I'm grateful to him for those. I wouldn't encourage anyone to become a student of his. I wish him well."
“I do like a very quiet life,” Mr. Merwin said by telephone after learning of his appointment. “I can’t keep popping back and forth between here and Washington.”
2 reader comments:
ahhhh vajra dirt, distinct from vajra ground? or no?
poet piss
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