Coleman Barks

This article is about the poet. For the business writer, see Robert W. Bly.

Coleman Barks
File:Coleman Barks reading.jpg Coleman Barks reads at the Festival of Silence, Esvika, Asker, Norway, 25. June 2011
Born	Coleman Bryan Barks (1937-04-23) April 23, 1937 Chattanooga, Tennessee,
Occupation	Poet
Genre	American poetry
Notable works	Gourd Seed, The Essential Rumi
Spouse	Kittsu Greenwood (1962 - divorced)
Children	Benjamin, Cole
Website
www.colemanbarks.com

Coleman Barks (born April 23, 1937) is an American poet, and former literature faculty at the University of Georgia. Although he neither speaks nor reads Persian, he is nonetheless renowned as an interpreter of Rumi and other mystic poets of Persia.

Early life and background

Barks is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee. He attended the Baylor School as a teenager, then studied collegiately at the University of North Carolina and the University of California, Berkeley.

Career

Barks taught literature at the University of Georgia for three decades.

Barks makes frequent international appearances and is well known throughout the Middle East. Barks' work has contributed to an extremely strong following of Rumi in the English-speaking world. Due to his work, the ideas of Sufism have crossed many cultural boundaries over the past few decades. Coleman Barks received an honorary doctorate from Tehran University in 2006.

He has also read his original poetry at the Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. In March 2009 Barks was inducted to the Georgia Writers' Hall of Fame.

Personal life

He currently lives in Athens, Georgia, where he interprets the writings of Rumi and composes poetry of his own. In early 2011, Barks suffered a stroke that has somewhat impaired his speech and has resulted in at least one cancelled appearance.

Rumi translations

Barks has published several volumes of Rumi's poetry since 1976, including The Hand of Poetry, Five Mystic Poets of Persia in 1993, The Essential Rumi in 1995 and The Book of Love in 2003.

Barks does not speak or read Persian; his 'translations' are therefore technically paraphrases. Barks bases his paraphrases entirely on other English translations of Rumi which include renderings by John Moyne and Reynold A. Nicholson. In addition, while the original Persian poetry of Rumi is heavily rhymed and metered, Barks has used primarily free verse. In some instances, he will also skip or mix lines and metaphors from different poems into one 'translation'.

For example, here is a very literal rendering by Reynold A. Nicholson,

"On the Day of Resurrection every hidden thing will be made manifest: every sinner will be ignominiously exposed by himself.
His hands and feet will give evidence and declare his iniquity in the presence of Him whose help is sought.
His hand will say, 'I have stolen such and such'; his lip will say, 'I have asked such and such questions';
His foot will say. 'I have gone to (enjoy) things desired'; his pudendum will say, 'I have committed fornication.'
His eye will say, 'I have cast amorous glances at things forbidden'; his ear will say, 'I have gathered evil words.'
Therefore he is a lie from head to foot, for even his own members give him the lie,
Just as, in (the case of) the specious prayers (performed by the ascetic), their fine appearance was proved to be false testimonio testiculi.
Act, then, in such wise that the action itself, without (your) tongue (uttering a word), will be (equivalent to) saying 'I testify' and (to making) the most explicit declaration,
So that your whole body, limb by limb, O son, will have said 'I testify' as regards both good and ill.
The slave's walking behind his master is a testimony (equivalent to saying), 'I am subject to authority and this man is my lord.'"

And Barks' version of the same passage,

"On Resurrection Day your body testifies against you.
Your hand says, 'I stole money.'
Your lips, 'I said meanness.'
Your feet, 'I went where I shouldn't.'
Your genitals, 'Me Too.'

They will make your praying sound hypocritical
Let the body's doings speak openly now,
without your saying a word,
as a student's walking behind a teacher
says, "This one knows more clearly
than I the way."

Original poetry

Barks has published several volumes of his own poetry, including Gourd Seed, "Quickly Aging Here", Tentmaking, and, in 2001, Granddaughter Poems, a collection of Coleman's poetry about his granddaughter, Briny Barks, with illustrations by Briny. Harper published his first book of poetry, The Juice, in 1972.

Quotes

Iran is my first home-land. (2006)

The only credential I have for working on Rumi's poetry is my meeting with [my Sufi teacher], Bawa Muhaiyaddeen. That relationship is the only access I have to what is going on in Rumi's poetry.

See also

• Persian poetry
• Sufism

External links

• Official Web Site
• Interview with Coleman Barks for Guernica Magazine (guernicamag.com)
• Audio Interview on CBC radio with Coleman Barks and Andrew Harvey, by Mary Hynes of Tapestry (September 9, 2007; about 50 minutes)
• Four new translations of Rumi by Barks
• New Georgia Encyclopedia entry on Coleman Barks
• Audio Interview with Coleman Barks discussing the "Soul of Rumi" - includes transcript
• Bark's bio on The Zip Book
• German Magazine Interview