The Ecstasy of Rumi

October 2006

I am so ecstatic. After a seemingly eternal wait I've discovered another recording of Coleman Barks performing the poetry of the Persian mystic poet Jalal ad-Din Rumi. From CBC Audio, it captures the CBC programme Tapestry which featured Barks' participation in a two-day Rumi festival in Toronto.

I was introduced to Rumi by my own Shams of Tabriz. Christopher Lydon introduced me to Coleman Barks. (Ah, how I miss Chris' The Connection!)

When I first heard Barks, I couldn't get past his Roy Blount, Jr. drawl; when I first saw a photo of him, his visage evoked Peter Schickele. With these associations in my head it was awfully hard to take him seriously. But his voice (in both senses) eventually defined him.  In my mind, he is now in a class of his own, a category of one.

Barks is not universally loved: Rumi purists decry Barks' interpretations of Rumi's poetry, claiming it distorts the master's words, and masks his his devotion to Islam. In defence of Barks I first have to question how bad it can be if Mr. Barks is showing the western world (and the US in particular!) the astounding intellectual and cultural heritage of a country that is very possibly the next target in George W. Bush's personal jihad.  Second (and to me far more compelling) is simply Mr. Barks' mastery of language. Yes, it is true that the English language is his tool; but he is clearly a master poet. Could you write this:

Break the wineglass, and fall toward the glassblower's breath.

Or this:

How will you know the diffiiculties of being human if you're always flying off into blue perfection?

I couldn't. I couldn't even imagine it. Would this make any sense if literally translated into Chinese? Would it be as beautiful? So how is the literal translation of Rumi's Persian into English better? There would need to be so many glosses for a contemporary English speaker to "get it", that it would ruin the poetry just as surely as a bad English teacher in college turned me sour on poetry for twenty-five years. Barks' words speak to the heart, without need for explanations.