As the foremost translator of 13th-century mystic poet Jalal Al-Din Rumi, Coleman Barks, retired UGA professor of creative writing and American poetry, reaches a devoted, inspired and ever-widening international audience. Yet the foundation for Barks’ work as a translator is his own significant body of work as a poet. Winter Sky offers a selection from Barks’ previously published books and new poems.
Barks’ open-hearted, free verse poetry is infused with a joy of the spirit at play with the forms of the world. His journey through life is deeply embedded in his work. The poems spring directly from experience and engage with subjects such as the elation and struggle of having and raising children, grief over the deaths of loved ones, the transition from parent to grandparent or the changing nature and intensity of desire.
Whether it is the childhood excitement of being named best athlete at summer camp or the early signs of dementia at the age of 70, Barks uses the personal to convey the universal. The unique flow of a life is here in poems that are rueful, confused, torn and grateful, but always informed by Barks’ transcendent sense of joy and playfulness.
Barks will be inducted into the Georgia Writers Hall of Fame at 10:30 a.m. March 24 in the Miller Learning Center.