blackbird online journal spring 2002 vol.1 no. 1

POETRY

NORMAN DUBIE

The Book of Crying Kanglings
   from The Spirit Tablets at Goa Lake

"The Book of Crying Kanglings" is the third and final of the three sections that make up the completed manuscript of Norman Dubie's Buddhist-inspired, futurist epic, The Spirit Tablets at Goa Lake.

Section one of the manuscript, "Book of the Jewel Worm," was published in Blackbird, Vol. 1, No. 2, on November 1, 2002, and section two, "Book of the Jaspers," appears in Blackbird, Vol. 2, No. 1, published May 1, 2003.

Because the manuscript is published serially across three issues, we have tried to give you plenty of signposts by which to find your way. Please be aware that links from the Table of Contents may take you outside the archive or issue from which you enter the Table of Contents.

Cliff Edwards, Virginia Commonwealth University professor of philosophy and religious studies, provides notes for readers unfamiliar with Buddhism (see Table of Contents below). He writes, "The long poem can weave its magic whether one understands the world of Tibetan Buddhism and its vocabulary or not. . . . Nevertheless, some knowledge of the world-view and technical terms of Tibet's Vajrayana might enrich one's reading and open another level of understanding."  

Begin The Book of Crying Kanglings


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