The Poet of the Pacific Northwest

Robert Sund (1929-2001) was a great Buddhist poet who spent his life in the rustic wilds of Washington state. He was much beloved in the northwest, but mostly unheard of elsewhere.

Here are a couple of my favorites:

Poem 36

Let these poems be like bunch grass,
in ground winds,
flash floods, and sunlight,
holding together
while one cricket sheltered here
sings his simple song.

Ink Bottle

1 Somewhere inside this ink bottle there is a starry sky! 2 Don’t keep the lid on your ink bottle too long.

Seattle, late 1960s