SOURCE: 'The Poetry of Lucien Stryk," in American Poetry Review, Vol. 9, No. 5, September-October, 1980, pp. 44-46.

In the following essay, Lynch compares Stryk's early verse to his more recent poetry.

A conscious life without a definite philosophy is no life, rather a burden and a nightmare," wrote Chekhov. The definite philosophy of contemporary American poet Lucien Stryk is Zen. Stryk has edited World of the Buddha, Zen: Poems, Prayers, Sermons, Anecdotes, Interviews, and The Penguin Book of Zen Poetry, has translated Shinkiehi Takahashi's Afterimages, and has published six volumes of his own poetry. Perhaps no one has done more than Stryk to introduce Americans to the work of Zen masters past and present, and Stryk stands with Gary Snyder as the two most distinguished American Zen poets. Unlike Snyder, Stryk came to Zen relatively late in life. After service in the South Pacific in World War II and education...