On Spiritual Poetry

On Spiritual Poetry

The poet digs a creek to send water to the following ages.

- Rumi

Photo & trans. by R. S.

© 2010-2020 Rumi Poetry Club. All Rights reserved.

Text Box: “Spiritual poetry and poets are found in all cultures, languages and religions. In fact, the most renowned poets of every nation and language were also deeply spiritual thinkers. These poets and their works offer a valuable platform for interfaith dialogue and cross-cultural understanding because they articulate the common human needs, ideals, qualities and struggles. In the stressful modern life and society, spiritual poetry can play an important role in shaping a harmonious civilization and a balanced lifestyle.” Interreligious Insight, July 2009

The brain is wider than the sky,

For, put them side by side,

The one the other will include

With ease, and you beside.

The brain is deeper than the sea,

For, hold them, blue to blue,

The one the other will absorb,

As sponges, buckets do.

Emily Dickinson

Text Box: Spiritual Poetry: Anthologies & Practice Technicians of the Sacred: A Range of Poetries from Africa, America, Asia, Europe & Oceania, edited by Jerome Rothenberg (University of California Press; 2nd edition, 1985) The Enlightened Heart: An Anthology of Sacred Poetry, edited by Stephen Mitchell (HarperPerennial, 1989) News of the Universe: Poems of Twofold Consciousness, edited by Robert Bly (Sierra Club Books, 1995) The Soul is Here for Its Own Joy: Sacred Poems from Many Cultures, edited by Robert Bly (Ecco, 1999) To Touch the Sky: Poems of Mystical, Spiritual & Metaphysical Light, edited and translated by Willis Barnstone (New York: New Directions, 1999) Poetry for the Spirit: Poems of Universal Wisdom and Beauty, edited by Alan Jacobs (Watkins Publishing, 2002) Love Poems from God: Twelve Sacred Voices from the East and West, edited by Daniel Landinsky (Penguin, 2002) The Shambhala Anthology of Women’s Spiritual Poetry, edited by Aliki Barnstone (Shambhala, 2002) The British Women Poets of the Romantic Era: An Anthology, edited by Paula Feldman (John Hopkins University Press, 2000) Women in Praise of the Sacred: 43 Centuries of Spiritual Poetry by Women, edited by Jane Hirshfield (Harper Perennial, 1995) Music of the Sky: An Anthology of Spiritual Poetry, edited by Patrick Laude and Barry McDonald (World Wisdom, 2004) Singing the Way: Insights into Poetry & Spiritual Transformation, Patrick Laude (World Wisdom, 2005) The Mystic in Love: A Treasury of World Mystical Poetry, edited by Shelly Gross (Bantam Books, 1966, 1976) Healing Words: The Power of Prayer and the Practice of Medicine, by Larry Dossey (HarperOne, 1995) Poetic Medicine: The Healing Art of Poem-Making, by John Fox (Tracher, 1997) Saved by a Poem: The Transformative Power of Words, by Kim Rosen (Hay House, 2009) Poetry as Spiritual Practice, Robert McDowell (New York: Free Press, 2008) A More Beautiful Question: The Spiritual in Poetry and Art, by Glenn Hughes (University of Missouri Press, 2011)