GEERT
VERBEKE: An enigma, a modern master and a spellbinder.
Literary criticism of the
poetry and prose of Geert Verbeke (Flanders-Belgium), based
upon “Brother Buddha”, 2007, Cyberwit (India), ISBN:
978-81-8253-094-2; “Frogs Croak”, 2007, Cyberwit (India),
ISBN: 978-81-8253-091-1; “Rain”, 2005, Cyberwit (India),
ISBN: 81-8253-021-0; “Jokerman”, 2005, Cyberwit (India),
ISBN: 81-8253-038-5; and “Sweeps of Rain”, 2006, Cyberwit
(India), ISBN: 81-8253-068-7.
The poetic artistry of Geert Verbeke.
It is not an easy process to become reviewed by “yours
truly”. I do make several demands that have to do with
professionalism and publishing achievements, as well as my
commitment to raise awareness regarding small press
published books written by international,
bilingual/multilingual, and/or trans-cultural authors of
poetry, prose and photography. I aim to re-enact a
“renaissance” of literary criticism especially, which is
critical, analytical and a subjective (yet professional)
assessment of literary achievement and room for further
development/improvement.
I write this review of the works of Geert Verbeke both in
homage .. and in protest. It is simply “unfair” to challenge
a reviewer with five books of such literary and
philosophical quality and professional craftsmanship as is
here the case. To be blunt, it is maddening .. to be sucked
into the world and thinking of Geert Verbeke so easily –
even though I consider myself to be a good critic in my
area(s) of specialization – and to suddenly take on the role
of ‘The Fool’ (in the Tarot) .. spellbound by the ‘magic’ of
a master, who is both adept in his craftsmanship with regard
to tradition and the expert ‘blasting’ of ever-developing
contemporary expressions of haiku, tanka, senyru and haibun.
He managed to “rope me in” .. despite several readings to
double-check .. and I must simply declare Verbeke as a
contemporary master. Damn!
Did I find no faults in these five books? Certainly, there
are small issues that have to do with the occasional caesura
placement or alternative suggestions in regard to how
bilingual and multilingual versions of his haiku are
presented on each page (sometimes I would prefer to have
more space – i.e. to have each poem and its bilingual or
multilingual versions on a page by itself), and the
occasional typographical error .. but these things are
trivialities. The man is a genius .. or/and ‘mad’ (in terms
of artistic genius the two often go together).
Firstly, his understanding of the history and traditions of
the art forms he employs is quite evident; and this
understanding affords him the ability and the ‘right’ to
experiment and further develop the literary forms he
specializes in (including further development of the English
haiku derivatives).
Secondly, he masters not just the haiku, but in addition
tanka, senyru and haibun. And as if that is not provocative
enough for a literary critic, he dares to go so far as to
combine several literary styles in several of his books.
Most dramatically in “Sweeps of Rain”, where he combines
haibun in a way that reads as a complete novel.
And finally, Verbeke is so cheeky and daring that he takes
his readers and himself to the absolute maximal limit: he
writes his masterpieces in several languages, including
Flemish, English, French, German etc.
Already, as you can well understand, I am livid as a
literary critic .. With some extremely-talented authors I
sometimes secretly wish that I had written this or that
particular work of literature instead of him/her. However,
in the case of this man Geert Verbeke I feel that he is so
completely ‘superior’ – not only in regards to his
understanding and craftsmanship, but also because he manages
to access the inner reaches of philosophy, spirituality,
humanity, social consciousness and frivolity .. all at once.
AND he pumps these works out effortlessly; as if he is
practicing zazen. Effortlessness is – of course – the mark
of an ‘artistic master’ – the point where “simplicity” and
“difficulty” become indistinguishable because the level of
mastery makes the distance between point zero and the
‘unreachable dream’ as short as possible. And that is the
essence of Geert Verbeke’s literary genius: not only to
achieve the impossible but also to transform literary
dexterity into a literary and visual masterpiece at its
lowest common denominator.
Geert Verbeke is impressive .. and he is scary. He can take
any topic (for example: frogs or playing cards .. nature ..
or political/social issues) and ‘spin his magic’.
Okay. You have understood that the man is now
highly-regarded by me. Let me illustrate just a few of the
many fine examples of his craftsmanship and genius:
memorial day –
a lot of grasshoppers
on the stupa
between
gravel and duneland –
an oasis
along the river
a row of singing monks –
dew on their hats
(from “Brother Buddha”)
terraced rice fields –
the annual frog concert
and her hangover
in the evening
croaks are getting louder –
a downpour
(from “Frogs Croak”)
half-naked sadhus
at the ritual cremation
click-clack Kodak
sweet-and-sour
the taste of mango
on her lips
anti-terror
a flow of body bags
back to the USA
rising tide
the sky is the sea
outgoing tide
lasting for days
the singing of the rain
composing sad songs
(from “Rain”)
I am afraid that I must stop here ... most publishers have a
maximum word limit, and I have already surpassed the
standard commercial literary review limitations. But this is
also relevant to my experience of the literature of Geert
Verbeke: he knows the traditions, he knows the standards ..
and he possesses the genius and the integrity to know when
to use the traditional .. and when (and how) to surpass it.
And I have a strong intuition that it is “art” which guides
him, rather than “commercialism”.
GEERT VERBEKE: Born in Kortrijk, Flanders
(Europe). Geert began writing haiku in 1968. The decisive
factor to study haiku was the discovery of the Himalayan
singing bowls and the travels to Kathmandu, the Sinaï-desert,
Istanbul, Tunisia, Djerba, France, Tanzania, Zanzibar and
the Grand Canyon in Arizona, USA. Geert has also written a
few books about singing bowls. He has, in addition to have
published several books on haiku, haibun, senyru and tanka
and singing bowls, recorded 11 cd's with singing bowls,
gongs and percussion.
ADAM DONALDSON POWELL (Norway) is a literary critic
and a multilingual author, writing in English, Spanish,
French and Norwegian; and a professional visual artist. He
has published five books (including collections of poetry,
short stories and literary criticism) in the USA, Norway and
India, as well as several short and longer works in
international literary publications on several continents.
He has previously authored theatrical works performed
onstage, and he has (to-date) read his poetry at venues in
New York City, Oslo (Norway), Buenos Aires and Kathmandu
(Nepal).
Copyright 2007,
Adam Donaldson Powell.
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