Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Gary Snyder’s "The Blue Sky" is a poem that merges Buddhist cosmology, linguistic etymology, and indigenous mythic imagery into a single evocative meditation. The poem opens with an invocation of a distant world, “Eastward from here, beyond Buddha-worlds ten times as numerous as the sands of the Ganges there is a world called PURE AS LAPIS LAZULI.” This celestial geography is drawn from Mahayana Buddhist sutras, specifically those concerning the Buddha of Healing, Bhaiṣajyaguru, whose “AZURE RADIANCE” signifies wisdom and compassion. By situating his poem in the expansive context of Buddhist cosmology, Snyder creates a sense of vastness that immediately extends beyond the familiar world.

The poem then shifts its focus to earthly geography, “East. Old Man Realm / East across the sea, yellow sand land / Coyote old man land / Silver, and stone blue.” Here, Snyder moves between cultures and traditions, connecting Buddhist imagery with Native American mythology. Coyote, often a trickster or creator figure in indigenous traditions, appears in “Old Man Realm”, a reference that may evoke the great age of mythic time. Silver, and stone blue suggests a blending of precious materials, natural elements, and colors deeply tied to both spiritual and physical landscapes.

Following this, the poem turns toward language itself, moving through a list of words that trace the origins and transformations of the word “sky.” Snyder writes “Blue Sky. bla-ew, bright skyf la-uus scu-wo ‘shadow’ Sanskrit skuta-s ‘covered’ skewed (pied) f lamen, bra-hman skewbald (. . . ‘Stewball’) skybald / Piebald.” This etymological exploration links the Indo-European roots of sky-related terms with the sacred role of language in human perception. The reference to flamen, a Roman priest, and brahman, the Hindu concept of universal spirit, further deepens the poem’s engagement with religious thought, suggesting that the sky—so seemingly simple and ubiquitous—is a vessel of profound cultural and linguistic resonance.

The next transition brings in a striking image, “Horse with lightning feet, a mane like distant rain, the Turquoise horse, a black star for an eye / white shell teeth.” This recalls the sacred horses of many indigenous traditions, particularly in Plains and Southwestern Native American mythology, where the color turquoise holds spiritual significance. The horse becomes a conduit of movement and power, a bridge between earth and sky, reinforcing the theme of interconnected realms.

The poem concludes with a final invocation: “Pony that feeds on the pollen of flowers / may he make thee whole. / Heal. hail whole (khailaz . . . kail . . .koil I. E. r).” The movement from physical imagery to the act of healing suggests that the poem itself is a kind of incantation. Snyder’s invocation of the pony—an animal simultaneously symbolic of wildness and human companionship—echoes the Buddhist concept of interconnectedness, where even the smallest elements of existence contribute to balance and restoration.

Throughout "The Blue Sky", Snyder collapses boundaries between cultures, disciplines, and forms of knowledge. The poem operates on multiple registers—religious, linguistic, mythological—without ever settling fully into any single one. Instead, it performs a kind of verbal alchemy, transmuting ideas and images across time and space. By interweaving Buddhist sutras, etymology, and Native American symbolism, Snyder constructs a vast, open-ended vision of the sky not merely as a physical space but as a domain of meaning, language, and spirit. The poem suggests that understanding the sky is not just about looking upward but about tracing the deep histories embedded in words, myths, and elemental forces.

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