A Commonplace Book
$29.75
- Paperback
96 pages
- Release Date
19 November 2026
Summary
Maitreyabandhu’s Commonplace Book, his first book-length poem, follows a year from the death of his Buddhist teacher while he navigates his own spiritual life and smarts at lost love.
In a commonplace book, you’d write a recipe, copy a proverb, jot down housekeeping advice, making a precious object out of ordinary things.
Part epyllion, part diary, Maitreyabandhu’s Commonplace Book mingles tradition with innovation, comedy with tragedy, traversing the bardo between this life a…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781780378008 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 1780378009 |
| Author: | Maitreyabandhu |
| Publisher: | Bloodaxe Books Ltd |
| Imprint: | Bloodaxe Books Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 96 |
| Release Date: | 19 November 2026 |
| Dimensions: | 90mm x 156mm x 234mm |
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Critics Review
The best of these poems speak as much of psychological harm, uncertainty and the divisions we create as they do of unity, beauty, or well-adjusted contentment… In the end, though, the impression is of a poet who combines a self-effacing, observational stance with often searing, complicated feeling… Yarn is a collection where the transcendent promise of Buddhist enlightenment meets with the blunt reality of flawed humanity.
– Ben Wilkinson * The Poetry Review, on Yarn *Maitreyabandhu
Maitreyabandhu was born Ian Johnson in 1961, in Henley-in-Arden, Warwickshire. He was ordained into the Triratna Buddhist Order in 1990 and since then has lived and worked at the London Buddhist Centre, teaching Buddhism and meditation.
He has written three books on Buddhism:
- Thicker than Blood: Friendship on the Buddhist Path (2001)
- Life with Full Attention: a Practical Course in Mindfulness (2009)
- The Journey and the Guide
Maitreyabandhu has won the Keats-Shelley Prize, the Basil Bunting Award, the Geoffrey Dearmer Prize, and the Ledbury Festival Poetry Competition.
His poetry pamphlets include:
- The Bond (2010), which won the Poetry Business Book and Pamphlet Competition and was shortlisted for the Michael Marks Award.
- Vita Brevis (2011), which won the iOTA Shots Award.
His book-length collections published by Bloodaxe are:
- The Crumb Road (2013), a Poetry Book Society Recommendation.
- Yarn (2015).
- After Cezanne (2019), an illustrated meditation on the life and work of the painter.
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