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    The Divine Farmer's Renga
    The Divine Farmer's Renga
    The Divine Farmer's Renga
    Ebook734 pages1 hour

    The Divine Farmer's Renga

    By Alex Lucksmith

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    About this ebook

    A “Renga” is an ancient form of Japanese poetry. The Divine Farmer’s Renga is an homage to all the tea sellers, divine farmers, and pastoral gleaners whose use of medicinal herbs creates a kind of poetry all its own. The Divine Farmer’s Renga is a “materia medica,” or tome of medicine, that reads like a book of poetry. Or some might say it’s a book of poetry that reads like a materia medica. Written straight from the heart, this unique work combines years of research, journal entries, letters, and notes written on table tops and the back of napkins from journeys around the world and into the self. It includes nearly 250 individual Chinese herbology entries, ranging from the “Gathering Happiness Flower” to the giant black centipede. Each listing provides alternate names from other modalities of alternative medicine, as well as the “Five Elements” of energetic qualities and a quick reference of traditional uses in Chinese medicine. Tying the herbs together are more than 1,000 haiku-style verses arranged in traditional Japanese “san-ku,” or candlestick form. Some poems refer to the herbs themselves. Others range from the insightful to the sublime: pastoral tributes to the Japanese poet Basho or the simple nostalgic joys of tasting a cheap popsicle. Alexander Lucksmith’s first book is an eclectic, original work that is perfect for poets and practitioners alike.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlex Lucksmith
    Release dateAug 18, 2015
    ISBN9781311387332
    The Divine Farmer's Renga
    Author

    Alex Lucksmith

    Alexander Lucksmith (both a pen-name and an aspiration) was born in the foothills of Colorado in the 80’s. Feng Shui practitioners would discover that between the Platte and the plains was the perfect chi for nourishing the heart. Most of his youth was spent on hilly backyards digging for treasure, in basements playing Nintendo, and in schools blowing off homework. His love for herbs came from long weekend roadtrips in the back of a yellow 70’s Vanagon. Aside from heady Argentine prose, the only reading material was a beat up field guide to identifying and using medicinal herbs. Countless days of plucking mint and hand-identifying nettles turned into a apothecary clerk at a Chinese pharmacy. Now, herbs were more than plants and roots, they were bug, rocks, energies, and mythologies. A chance encounter with 2 nameless tea saints in Seattle gave Alexander the mantra “We may not be rich, or smart, but we can make a good cup of tea, and sometimes that makes all the difference”. So for a while, scorpions and centipedes were traded for sencha and ceylons. Between harvest and houjicha were the islands of Japan. Like a swallow flying in coach, he returns every four years to roost. Sometimes he makes his home on the island of Shikoku, and other times in cheap Tokyo underpasses. Each time returning with a bit more nesting material. And as fancy as this makes him all sound, in the end he is just a guy who smiles and makes haiku in the margins of newspapers.

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      Book preview

      The Divine Farmer's Renga - Alex Lucksmith

      Herbs That Regulate the Qi

      Chen Pi

      Aged Tangerine peel

      陳皮 (Chinpi)

      Pericarpium Citri Reticulatae

      Bitter, Spicy, Warm, Aromatic

      LU, SP, ST

      At the library

      I see myself a bookworm

      eating all I smell

      A bookshelf of vintages

      words ageing to perfection

      Ink, paper, and glue

      bound intoxication

      gourmet information

      Chen Xiang

      Eaglewood, Aloeswood, Aquilaria

      沈香 (Jinko)

      Lignum Aquilariae Resinatum

      Bitter, Spicy, Warm, Aromatic

      KI, SP, ST

      In summer, hidden

      in the winter, revealed

      the eagles nest

      It makes its home where it will

      and no one dares disturb it

      Talons and freedom

      It is the perfect symbol

      of our native land

      Chuan Lian Zi

      Sichuan Pagoda Tree, Sichuan Chinaberry, Melia

      Fructus Toosendan

      Bitter, Cold, Slightly Toxic

      BL, LIV, SI, ST

      1 p.m., wedding

      at 3 p.m., funeral

      6p.m., church

      Shepard should be a title

      like minister or servant

      My old reverend;

      a container for talents

      Swiss-army person

      Da Fu Pi

      Betel husk

      大腹皮 (Daifukuhi)

      Pericarpium Arecae

      Spicy, Slightly Warm

      LI, SI, SP, ST

      High schooler’s party

      I’m acting conspicuous

      sipping from my flask

      No one else needs to know

      that I filled it with water

      I wonder who else

      is smoking oregano

      and popping Red-Hots 

      Fo Shou

      Finger Citron, Buddha’s Hand Fruit

      Fructus Citri Sarcodactylis

      Bitter, Spicy, Warm

      LI, LU, ST, SP

      A hand that reaches

      tree to the farmer

      a hand that reaches

      So much love he has for us

      stretching forward from the green

      I’m hesitating…

      To chop the fingers from god

      to garnish my tea…

      Li Zhi He

      Lychee nut

      Semen Litchi

      Sweet, Warm

      LIV, ST

      With a single mind

      he prepares the herb I seek

      Hurls it from the tree

      I wish I could understand

      all the words you are saying

      closed for winter

      your wood-paneled office

      is littered with shells

      Mei Gui Hua

      Asian Rosebud

      Flos Rosae Rugosae

      Sweet, Slightly Bitter, Warm

      LIV, SP

      In 29 years

      I’ve never played so long

      until I met you

      I spilled my tea

      when you told me I had a godson

      We’re hunting ghosts

      with flashlights and stickers

      endless poltergeists

      Mu Xiang

      Saussurea, Costus Root

      木香 (Mokko)

      Radix Aucklandiae

      Bitter, Spicy, Warm

      GB, LI, SP, ST

      Bacon turn to wood

      a container of slices

      the apothecary wall

      Every time I portion you

      I think myself a butcher

      Hunger quenched

      with a tea made of

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