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(regarding "Rapture: endings of space and time.")
In this book, you will be able to appreciate three of Adam Donaldson Powell’s many talents: that of the poet, the photographer and the essayist. Not only does Powell write beautifully in three languages, English, Spanish and Norwegian (this, I have been told, but here, I cannot judge, since I do not speak the language), but he is also an accomplished painter and a musician. As I have written before, elsewhere, I admire Powell the Renaissance man, Powell the Peace artist, the poet whose verse has a classical beauty which can never be out of fashion, inasmuch as it reflects our harsh and unstable world in which the clash of civilizations has become a terrifying reality, and yet in spite of the dangers, he continues to reach out and absorbs the riches and the variety he discovers in other cultures. In the present case he takes us to the heart of Nepal.
I would invite you to whisper these lines facing yourself in a looking glass:
There is nothing more beautiful
And yet so sorrowful as
A man’s tears over humiliation
And loss, cradled in the bosom
Of a woman.
Uncontrollable sobbing --
A torrential rainfall
Recalling a wilderness
Landscape unashamedly seeking
Refuge from gushing winds
And rapids, thunder and lightning
Against a purple, grey and orange
Sky – in betrayal of a lifetime of
Emotional constipation and
Affections of masculinity.
(this is from: PAVANE: un poème pour la fin des temps.)
then, read this, somewhat louder, in a chanting manner:
The words of the poet savant are forever imprinted
upon my palms, forehead and heart – as clearly as the
unmistakable image of the great bodhisattva Kuan Yin.
The secret of the veil behind the veil is encoded
in the diamond; for while there are many ways to
enlightenment the highest wisdom is attained through
the Great Compassion, and self-realization is the only
homecoming recognized by the disciples of Vajrayana.
(this is from the poem: AT THE BUDDHIST TEMPLE.)
Powell is a magnificent guide of the human soul. The voyage you embark on with him can be likened, metaphorically, that is, to Jules Verne's 'Voyage to the centre of the earth', only here, it is to the centre of one's being, that he brings us to.
His photos portray the Buddha and the temples dedicated to him in the most vivid and joyous colours. There are also breathtaking landscapes that remind us of how fragile we earth dwellers are and how humble and respectful we ought to be of our environment, instead of waging wars against our brethren and depleting our natural resources so shamelessly.
As for Powell's essays - I'd be presumptuous to discuss his review of one of my books - they could adorn the literary pages of The New York Times.
'Rapture: endings of space and time' is a jewel of a book, which I invite you to savour in the quiet of your bedroom, or in front of the hearth, when everyone has gone to sleep. You will want to come back to it again and again.
- Albert Russo
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At a time when it would seem that humanity now needs art and poetry more than ever, the profession of poetry has perhaps never before seemed so much of a useless occupation from an economical perspective. And yet the number of amateur and “closet” poets flourish all across the world. In a rapid-paced environment where the Internet has “foreclosed” on both newspapers and long novels, and where coming to the point in a cost-effective way is the norm for all forms of communication (“time is money”), poetry has begun to regain an important status as a means of quickly conveying ideas and feelings and of providing recreation and diversion in small doses. The prevalence of storytelling as a form in today’s poetry attests to this new need for economizing literary access to both information and escape. At the same time, another new form of poetry has re-emerged in recent years: rapturous poetry, i.e. “active” poetry which is akin to free prose written in an economical style and format. Rapturous poetry is actually nothing new – even in the English language. I personally consider much of Walt Whitman’s poetry to be “rapturous” in both style and form, as in Whitman’s poem “Poets to come!” from “Leaves of Grass”.
By rapturous I mean “enticing”, “actively engaging” and “transporting”. In this day and age it can be argued that rapture is perhaps more identifiable with a contagious sense of conviction and the power of sentimental persuasion rather than overbearing romanticism, and religious or sensual ecstasy. The drive to live, to create, to experience and to convey one’s feelings, thoughts and experiences in an unfolding and captivating fashion is evident in all who wish to leave their signature upon the annals of history – if even for a brief moment in time. This is the “passion” of the 21st century. It is not necessarily an ego trip, but perhaps an attempt to both justify and verify life itself at a time when the value of human life and nonconformity are increasingly challenged.
There exists a poet in each and every one of us – oftentimes in seclusion, but nonetheless scratching and clawing for release and self-expression. It is to this end that I write rapturous poetry, dedicated to the poet in us all – wherever and whomever we may be.
”Rapture: endings of space and time” is an exploration of the seeming chaos
characterizing human predicament in today’s world, with the increasingly
unclear boundaries, and tensions and hybridizations between cultures,
traditions, religions and political, economic and social value systems.
Through various portrayals of fantasy experiences – including those
of the overwhelmed Western tourist attempting to understand the
workings and essence of Kathmandu’s Hindu and Buddhist cultures
during Dasain, the “end of the world” scenario depicted in
“After the Rapture”, and other poems about finding individual identity
in everyday situations – the suggestion is to simply let oneself become
enraptured by this chaos of ever-changing and overlapping perceptions,
misunderstandings and life experiences. There is no absolute Truth; and
it is perhaps only in the eye of the storm – beyond the endings of space
and time – that one can find appropriate understanding.
The message: delight in the mystery, and find inner peace in the midst
of the confusion of ever-changing perceptions and life.
- Adam Donaldson Powell, 2006
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REVIEW BY DR. SANTOSH KUMAR, ALLAHABAD, INDIA (reprinted from Taj Mahal Review, June 2007 issue): "Rapture: endings of space and time" by Adam Donaldson Powell, Cyberwit.net, India, 2007, pp. 86 $ 15 Paperback, ISBN: 978-81-8253-082-9.
The publication of Adam Donaldson Powell’s Rapture: endings of space and time is remarkable for revealing his varied talents: poems, photography and literary criticism. Powell’s celestial inspiration concentrates itself on transmuting “physicality / into crystalline light” (“Ascension”), his passionate quest for “Great Compassion” will be accomplished only when the whole world experiences “vibration” and listens to the words of the poet. Powell is quite aware of the bitter reality of the contemporary world:
have sadly learned to expect
the relentless ravages of
war and emotional famine
brought on by the
rider on the red horse,
and the pestilence in the
saddlebags of the black steed.
(“The Fourth Horseman”, p. 18)
The globalisation of
indiscriminate violence
is multiplied to
the power of the sixes,
and the Antichrist
smiles broadly at
the cancerous spreading
of fear and perdition –
rationalized by armies of
self-proclaimed truth.
(“The Tribulation”, p. 19)
The modern turbulence and murderous frenzy will surely result in wild agony, if
“messengers / of love and compassion / no longer dare to / speak out”.
In his poems about Nepal, Powell’s mystical energies or wavebands are inspired by the Buddhist Mantra: “OM VAJRAPAANI HUUM .. OM VAJRAPAANI HUUM ..”. Powell actualizes the transformed soul of goodness faithfully:
"And finally we give birth to the God within ..
without reservation; and in generous libation."
(“At the Buddhist Temple”, p. 31)
Powell knows very well like Blake that “the ruins of time build mansions in eternity.” His search of utopia takes him to Nepal for mystical exercises of oriental sects.
Such poems transport us as well as the poet to a dreamworld of “vision and hallucination”. They exercise a secret magnetism on our innermost soul extracting from Buddhism its most harmonious and subtle Mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum”. “Buddha Trance” is a vivid comment on the Life in Nepal where the poet finds “The exoticism of spirituality /
Blended with indigenous capitalism”.
Powell’s Rapture: endings of space and time also includes most lively, vivid photographs from Nepal, and critical essays on the poetry of Jan Oskar Hansen, Albert Russo and Fernando Rodríguez. Rapture: endings of space and time makes it apparent that Powell has been and is a major writer of this age.
- Reviewed by Santosh Kumar.
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