Clouds Like Mountains

Karen Greenbaum-Maya's photo and poetry blog: what I see when I look, what I write when I do (and weird things I overhear)


Wednesday, April 26, 2017

The End of Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance






Robert Pirsig, author of the eloquent and passionate Zen in the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, died yesterday at 88.  His book inspired and sustained me through the last two years of writing my dissertation. His notion of the power of Quality, of characteristic goodness as opposed to the solely utilitarian, supported me (and through me, many of my patients) in finding the savor in life. He was schizophrenic and off-and-on psychotic, but he achieved something great and unique in this book. His redemption at its end--his salvation--still brings sobs from me. Even if he was not able to sustain being free of the grief and tangle of psychosis, he achieved it long enough to produce this book. Honi soit qui mal y pense. May his struggling soul rest in peace.









Posted by Karen G-M at 10:27 PM

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links to my poems on the web

  • Asses of Parnassus: Because I Could Not
  • Unlost: Ballad of the Clairvoyant Widow
  • Lighten Up: Robert Shushed Me
  • Danse Macabre: translations, Heine and Brecht; Jardin sous l'eau, Schubert Sonata in A; Lacrimosa
  • Poemeleon: Blue Egg, My Sister the Survialist
  • Mobius: On Guard
  • B O D Y : Busy (headliner, 1/27/20)
  • New Verse News: Resisting (headliner, 1/22/20)
  • Mobius: Two Heads
  • Tales from the Moonlit Path: Demented Mother's Day: My Mother the Illusionist
  • Naugatuck River Review, 14: Jitterbug (pg 30)
  • CHEST: Proprioception
  • Otoliths: Kafka's Cat, Man of My Dreams, Very Personally Yours, and 3 photos
  • New Verse News: Old Wood
  • Unlost: Gifts of the White Dog
  • B O D Y: Being Alive
  • NewVerseNews: On the Bus
  • Schuykill Valley Review: Nightwalker & Playing Doctor
  • MORIA: Last Night in Munich (scroll way down)
  • SWWIM: The Wake
  • Asses of Parnassus: Wagneriana 10/24/17
  • CHEST: Black Hole
  • CHEST: What I Reply to Well-Meaning People
  • Spank the Carp: Concrete Peony
  • Peacock Journal: Five photos
  • Otoliths: Porncam Pantoum; Eavesdropping at Brunch; Archaisches Torso Apollo, Way After Rilke
  • The Book of Knots and Their Untying--on Amazon!
  • New Verse News: Late Summer Tomatoes, Rosh Hashanah
  • Forage: Beautiful Leaves
  • Mobius: Glendora Group Home Outing
  • Otoliths: Komisch, Stonewall Jackson's Last Words, Endless Water; Blue spheres at IKEA, Dog walking and unrelated man, Picasso on the 5, Squash curves
  • Off the Coast: Lace Shadows
  • NewVerseNews: Champagne and Lace
  • Centrifugal Eye: three photos! flip to the back: 2+2; Kosher Pizza; L'Ideale
  • Centrifugal Eye: Dayenu/Genug; The Art of Coin Fishing
  • Poemeleon: Blow Yer Mind
  • Otoliths: Kafka at the Computer; Cold Little Protoplanet, and seven photos!!
  • Lament for the dead: Kris Jackson
  • Goreyesque: Lives of the Poets, part 2
  • Found Poetry Review: Life and Times of Mikhail Kalashnikov
  • Redheaded Stepchild: Whisperer
  • Black Lawrence Press, FEAST: Eggs Satori
  • Inlandia, leading photo: Wigs
  • Inlandia: Roots
  • The Road Not Taken: Estate Sale (click on Vol. 9 Issue 1)
  • Right Hand Pointing: City Parrots
  • Right Hand Pointing: Power of Knots
  • Mobius: Passing Through
  • Off the Coast: Oneiric CV (click on link)
  • Off the Coast: photos. Blessed Tortillas, Agave Aggression, Feel Better Tony is Here, Backlit Cactus
  • Kattywompus Press: my chapbook Eggs Satori!!
  • One Sentence Poem: Paris Pocket Park
  • Centrifugal Eye: Opioid Withdrawal/Total Eclipse (go to pg. 23)
  • Three Line Poetry (go to Issue 27, scroll down): Run-off foams...
  • Goreyesque: Lit Major Grad School Blues & three literary limericks
  • riverbabble: "Aha: Atomic Apron"
  • riverbabble: "Robocall/Remains"
  • RiverLit Online: "Northern Lights"
  • Literary Bohemian: "Floating World"
  • B O D Y: crow, n.v." and "Bob Hope at the River Glen Psych unit"
  • OneSentencePoetry: "Oak Apples"
  • Mobius: Golden Hind
  • Comstock Review, Honorable Mention, Muriel Craft Bailey Memorial Contest
  • Found Poetry Review, Dog-Ear poetry contest, honorable mention: "The poem is a space casual"
  • RHP, 70th issue, frontispiece photo: "Found Art & wall crack"
  • Right Hand Pointing: photo, "Found Objects"
  • Right Hand Pointing: "Mercury Retrograde Yesterday"
  • Flutter: "Ghazal of Wasted Time"
  • Flutter: "Black Hole"
  • Unshod Quills, featured poet: "Blurb" and "Blow Your Mind." And a photo. Also "Abecedarian of the Budgies," "Donut Slam," and, "Show Time."
  • Kattywompus Press: my chapbook, Burrowing Song (!!)
  • qarrtsiluni: "Wakeful"
  • New Verse News: "Dark Knight"
  • Off the Coast: "Papa"
  • Parody: Theodor Adorno Steps Out
  • quickly: "fat, n."
  • RiverLit: "Macht Frei"
  • RiverLit: "Marketplace"
  • Verbatim Poetry: "Russian Girls in Love"
  • Verbatim Poetry: "Billy the Dog"
  • Right Hand Pointing: "Homeland Security;" "Angry Chihuahua"
  • Centrifugal Eye: "Floating Route"
  • B O D Y : "True Way;" "carpet, n.v."
  • Poemeleon: "In German;" "So Sorry"
  • Right Hand Pointing: "Co-Axial Horse"
  • Convergence: "In German;" "Domaine des dieux"
  • Inlandia: "Cattail Fever"
  • Literary Bohemian Postcards: "Eiffel Tower"
  • Literary Bohemian: "In Exchange", "Sonnenizio on a Pawnee Song"
  • Flutter Poetry Journal: "Nasturtium"
  • Prose-Poem Project: "The Future"
  • TrainWrite: "Conductor" click on the URL,type TraunWrite into Search, scroll down 3 pages
  • Innisfree: Review of "Shimmer", by Judy Kronenfeld
  • qarrtsiluni, Imitation Issue: Homage to Weston (photo)
  • Word Gumbo, Light Issue: "Archaic Torso of Apollo, after Rilke"
  • Centrifugal Eye, Vacation Issue: "I Will Not Die in Cochabamba" and "My Patient Invites Me to Visit"
  • Waccamaw: "My Mother Is a Metaphor"
  • Peril: Pork Suite
  • Right Hand Pointing, USA Issue: "Texas"
  • Inlandia Journal: "Hummingbird" and two photos
  • Inlandia Journal: "Hard-Boiled Egg" and two photos
  • qarrtsiluni: "The Babinski" (+audio)
  • Furnace Review: "Waitress at the Wagon Wheel", "Double Abecedarian for Two Sisters"
  • Statushat: Tools issue: Found poem on Dragonspeak
  • Viral Cat: Political Animal, Disgruntled Client, David Lynch at the Messiah Sing-Along, and Silhouetted Skier & Black Cats (photo)
  • Inlandia Journal: Foothill Freeway Sestina, and four local photos (!)
  • Right Hand Pointing: Laughing Horse Inn, Taos NM
  • Poemeleon: Disco Jukebox Blues
  • Red Lion Square: I read three poems
  • NewVerseNews: The Ballad of Sarah Palin (11/4/10)
  • Abyss & Apex: Kafka on Vacation
  • qarrtsiluni: The Burrowing Song
  • The Dirty Napkin: Exchange Student's Ghazal
  • Poemeleon: How to Get to Paris (with Judith Terzi)
  • Umbrella: About the Author
  • The Dirty Napkin: Pear
  • O Tempora! O Mores!: Dreams, Ides of March

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Karen G-M
SoCal, California
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