Skip to main content

The First Fruit: Interruption to a Journey

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Poetry and Mindfulness
  • 344 Accesses

Abstract

Walpert discusses the fundamental importance in mindfulness of developing an awareness of the present moment and argues that one function of the lyric poem is to encourage a focus on the present. After examining poems that suggest the role of the lyric poem as an interruption, Walpert argues more broadly that reading and writing poetry encourages a focus on the journey itself: on process, rather than just on product, and the ways in which process and product are intertwined. The chapter concludes with some practical ramifications in business and science for such training.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    See Walpert (2011).

References

  • Apollinaire, Guillaume. 1918. Il Pleut. In Calligrammes: poèmes de la paix et da la guerre (1913–1916). Paris: Mercvre de France.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bays, Jan Chozen. 2011. What Is Mindfulness? In The Mindfulness Revolution: Leading Psychologists, Scientists, Artists, and Spiritual Teachers on the Power of Mindfulness in Daily Life, ed. Barry C. Boyce, 3–6. Boston, MA: Shambhala.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berry, Wendell. 1998. The Wild Geese. In The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry, 90. Washington, DC: Counterpoint.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boisseau, Michelle, Hadara Bar-Nadav, and Robert Wallace. 2012. Writing Poems. Repr., 8th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carr, Nicholas G. 2014. The Glass Cage: Automation and Us. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Catmull, Edwin E., and Amy Wallace. 2014. Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration. London: Bantam Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ciardi, John. 1959. How Does a Poem Mean? Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cummings, Edward Estlin. 2002. l(a. In 95 Poems, 1. New York, NY: Liveright/W.W. Norton & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • “fMRI Study Reveals Difference in Brain Response to Poetry and Prose”. 2013. Sci-News. Accessed 19 September 2016.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frost, Robert. 1949. Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening. In Complete Poems of Robert Frost, 1949, 224. New York: H. Holt.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gunaratana, Henepola. 1991. Mindfulness in Plain English. Singapore: Singapore Buddhist Meditation Centre.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habito, Ruben L.F. 1997. Mountains and Rivers and the Great Earth: Zen and Ecology. In Buddhism and Ecology: The Interconnection of Dharma and Deeds, ed. Mary Evelyn Tucker and Duncan Ryuken William, 166–175. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hanh, Thich Nhat. 1992. Look Deep and Smile: The Thoughts and Experiences of a Vietnamese Monk. In Buddhism and Ecology, ed. Martine Batchelor and Kerry Brown, 100–109. London: Cassell.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2002. Present Moment, Wonderful Moment. 2nd ed. Berkeley: Parallex Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harvey, Peter. 2013. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teachings, History and Practices. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, Edward. 2006. Winged Type. Poetry Foundation. Accessed 7 June 2017. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/resources/learning/articles/detail/68423

  • Hoch, James. 2003. Riding Backwards on a Train. In A Parade of Hands: Poems, 14. Eugene, OR: Silverfish Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hugo, Richard. 1979. Writing Off the Subject. In The Triggering Town: Lectures and Essays on Poetry and Writing, 3–10. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kennedy, Richard S. 1994. E.E. Cummings Revisited, Twayne’s United States Authors Series; TUSAS 637. New York/Toronto/New York: Twayne/Maxwell Macmillan Canada/Maxwell Macmillan International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lafford, Erin, and Emma Mason. 2013. ‘Ears of My Ears’: E.E. Cummings’ Buddhist Prosody. In Encountering Buddhism in Twentieth-Century British and American Literature, ed. Lawrence Normand and Alison Winch, 53–70. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • MacCaig, Norman. 2005. Interruption to a Journey. In The Poems of Norman MacCaig, ed. Ewen McCaig, 173. Edinburgh: Polygon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks, Barry Alan. 1964. E.E. Cummings, Twayne’s United States Authors Series, TUSAS 46. New York: Twayne Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliver, Mary. 1994. Yes! No! In White Pine, 8. San Diego: Harcourt Brace & Co.

    Google Scholar 

  • Retallack, Joan. 1998. AID/I/SAPPEARANCE. In How to Do Things with Words, 53–57. Los Angeles: Sun & Moon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • ———. 2006. RE: Fwd: Hello/Question, February 14.

    Google Scholar 

  • Revell, Donald. 2007. The Art of Attention: A Poet’s Eye. Saint Paul, MN: Graywolf Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, Christopher Llewellyn. n.d. What’s the Use of Basic Science? Accessed 16 December 2014.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stipp, Susan. 2010. Strategic or Blue Sky Research? The Execution of Serendipity. Elements 6: 139–140.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tolle, Eckhart. 1999. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment. Novato, CA: New World Library.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ullyatt, Gisela. 2011. ‘The Only Chance to Love This World’: Buddhist Mindfulness in Mary Oliver’s Poetry. Journal of Literary Studies 27 (2): 115–131. https://doi.org/10.1080/02564718.2011.580648.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Walpert, Bryan. 2011. Resistance to Science in Contemporary American Poetry. New York, NY: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yeats, William Butler. 1996. Among School Children. In The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats, ed. Richard J. Finneran, 215–217. New York: Simon & Schuster.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Walpert, B. (2017). The First Fruit: Interruption to a Journey. In: Poetry and Mindfulness. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68681-3_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics