P’ville Poet’s Latest Collection Has Zen Patriarch Taking on 21st Century

By Barbara Kay

As spring approaches, so does the release of James Zimmerman’s third collection of poems, “The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dōgen.”

Zimmerman, a Pleasantville resident and psychologist with a private practice, has written poetry since childhood. Originally from Illinois, he came to New York to pursue a career in the music industry where he toiled for 13 years. He’s also a founder of the Pleasantville Music Festival.

In 2008, he decided to pursue poetry again and began writing persona poems, which are pieces in the first person of someone else other than the poet.

“A number of years ago I wanted to get back in some creative pursuit other than being a therapist, which is a creative pursuit, and I didn’t want to start writing songs again, so I decided to go back to writing poetry, which is more flexible,” Zimmerman said.

On Saturday evening, he will be featured in a live Zoom poetry reading along with two other poets, Emily Sue Sloane and Susan Fagalde Lick, whose books are being published by The Poetry Box. The reading is scheduled for Mar. 9 at 7 p.m.

Zimmerman’s first book, “Little Miracles,” was published in 2015. “Family Cookout” followed a year later, which propelled Zimmerman to be recognized with the same award that the noted poet Ted Kooser won the following year.

After establishing a rapport with Kooser, one of Zimmerman’s poems “Listen to the Deer Tick Sing,” was published in Kooser’s American Life in Poetry column.

The upcoming “The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dōgen” are poems from the perspective of Dōgen Zenji, a 13^th century Buddhist monk who founded the Sōtō School of Zen in Japan.

“I started writing these poems in his voice without necessarily thinking that I was writing a book,” he said. “It’s writing about Buddhist concepts but in ways that are in a large part more accessible.”

One of his persona poems consists of Dōgen going to the dentist and contemplating the concept of duḥkha, which translates to suffering. In Buddhism, it is believed that suffering is the nature of existence.

“Dōgen goes to the dentist and the whole poem is about that concept,” he said. “In the dentist chair, you go in because you have a toothache, let’s say, and you’re suffering and you want that to go away.

“But if you want it to go away, that’s also going to make you suffer,” Zimmerman continued. “The dentist will stick a needle in your jaw, which is painful so you want to make that go away, but it won’t. But then the needle in your jaw will make you go numb and you want that to stay but it won’t.”

Zimmerman began meditating in college, and although he said he doesn’t refer to himself as a Buddhist, it’s the practice that makes the most sense to him.

“One thing about Buddhism is that there isn’t a god,” he explained. “It’s also something where anyone can do it. Anybody can get to where they want to get by practicing and that’s unique, unique in the major religions.”

Judith Schmidt, a psychologist and meditator, has known Zimmerman for 15 years. The two have become “spiritual friends,” according to Schmidt and read the manuscript for “The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dōgen.”

“It’s inspiring,” she said, “this new book is a wonderful way of teaching how to live.”

“You’ll see Jim bringing Dōgen to our time with a feel of awareness of tending to the deepest moments,” she continued.

In one of his poems, “Dōgen Takes a Ride in a Self Driving Car,” Zimmerman contemplates who the “self” in the self-driving car is. In Buddhism, the self doesn’t exist in an individual but in the community that they are a part of.

He also utilizes concrete poems that are arranged in a purposeful way for communicating.

“To some degree, how it’s constructed on the page is as important as the words,” Zimmerman said. “One of the poems is called ‘Dōgen Contemplates Circularity,’ it’s [constructed] as a circle, with the words [forming] a circle. There’s a wide variety of different kinds of poetry in the book.”

“The Further Adventures of Zen Patriarch Dōgen” is scheduled for release on Mar. 15 by The Poetry Box. To attend this Saturday’s virtual reading, visit
https://thepoetrybox.com/live-03092024.