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Go with the Flow: A tribute to Clyde Sanborn
While editing the tribute book to poet Robert Sund ( A Flutter of Birds Passing Through Heaven , 2016) I heard about "the other poet" in La Conner, Washington, Clyde Sanborn. Knowing nothing about him except that he lived and died like Li Po, I embarked on a journey to learn whatever I could. This tribute book is a rare treasury filled with memories, interviews, photos, as well as Clyde's handwritten poems and paintings. In the tradition of Li Po, Clyde Sanborn was our very own Zen poet, artist and river drifter. Not so long ago, he was a well known fixture in La Conner, but his story has never been told until now. This book provides an adventurous, inspired look at the struggle of an illuminated artist. It will be of interest to everyone else out there in the same boat.
328 pages, Paperback
Published January 15, 2018
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February 2, 2018
As one cannot truly categorize poet Clyde Sanborn (1948-1996), neither can one neatly classify this text about his life and writing. A “compilation,” a “composite,” a “do-it-yourself biography,” come close. And yet editor Allen Frost has found an organic form to fit his subject. Just as he had in his 2016 A Flutter of Birds Passing Through Heaven: A Tribute to Robert Sund. One should not be put off by this open and evolving form, for it captures the spirit of Clyde Sanborn’s free and intuitive life and work. Both Sund and Sanborn, friends by the way, offer an adventure in their very openness to life and the poem.
Because Clyde Sanborn has been relatively unknown beyond the Pacific Northwest, we are provided this summary of his life by contributor, Jim Smith: "Born and raised in Stockton, California, Clyde served in the Navy in Japan, where he was introduced to Zen Buddhism. In 1977 he settled down on the banks of the Skagit River, living quietly and simply in houseboats, sheds, tents, floatshacks. He painted and wrote poems, observed nature and visited with his many friends, but riverrats and townfolk. On March 15, at the age of 47, while rowing, he drowned near his home on the river.
No poet could have lived his poetry more faithfully and naturally than Clyde. His natural spirit made us mindful of the failings of the modern age."
There is this spontaneity and clarity in his writing, as though he is travelling light and not letting things clutter the mind. This is strikingly clear in this poem asserting values of freedom and simplicity against those of the mass conformity:
Poem to Allen’s Relatives
Hey! This boy knows the stars.
When you all are concerned about
new half-assed Buicks
he is singing his best song!
Whey you all ae struggling thru a
diaper, or how the lawn might
be mowed, this boy falls upsidedown to heaven!
You all must be trying to fool me.
But if you’re not, let us simply go to sleep,
and then wake up.
Oh, it is so difficult to keep up with
the Jones’—or ourselves,
for that matter.
Writing in good spirit with Zen wit and Buddhist compassion, Sanborn is an original and a challenge to our American values. While Go with the Flow: A Tribute of Clyde Sanborn preserves a lost poet and artist, it also honors a way of living and a way of writing that reminds us to be true to ourselves. One thanks editor Allen Frost and Good Deed Rain Press for this gift.
Because Clyde Sanborn has been relatively unknown beyond the Pacific Northwest, we are provided this summary of his life by contributor, Jim Smith: "Born and raised in Stockton, California, Clyde served in the Navy in Japan, where he was introduced to Zen Buddhism. In 1977 he settled down on the banks of the Skagit River, living quietly and simply in houseboats, sheds, tents, floatshacks. He painted and wrote poems, observed nature and visited with his many friends, but riverrats and townfolk. On March 15, at the age of 47, while rowing, he drowned near his home on the river.
No poet could have lived his poetry more faithfully and naturally than Clyde. His natural spirit made us mindful of the failings of the modern age."
There is this spontaneity and clarity in his writing, as though he is travelling light and not letting things clutter the mind. This is strikingly clear in this poem asserting values of freedom and simplicity against those of the mass conformity:
Poem to Allen’s Relatives
Hey! This boy knows the stars.
When you all are concerned about
new half-assed Buicks
he is singing his best song!
Whey you all ae struggling thru a
diaper, or how the lawn might
be mowed, this boy falls upsidedown to heaven!
You all must be trying to fool me.
But if you’re not, let us simply go to sleep,
and then wake up.
Oh, it is so difficult to keep up with
the Jones’—or ourselves,
for that matter.
Writing in good spirit with Zen wit and Buddhist compassion, Sanborn is an original and a challenge to our American values. While Go with the Flow: A Tribute of Clyde Sanborn preserves a lost poet and artist, it also honors a way of living and a way of writing that reminds us to be true to ourselves. One thanks editor Allen Frost and Good Deed Rain Press for this gift.
Displaying 1 of 1 review