Letters to Esmeralda

John Rhodes emphasizes the cliche' of ordinary life as the place that the enlightened person dwells as in the Zen Saying, "Before Enlightenment, "Chopping Wood Carrying Water. After Enlightenment Chopping Wood Carrying Water" "He keeps one foot in this world and one foot in the other world" as Meher Baba said. John uses the pun and the cliche' in his poems as does the Zen Master use his stick to whack the unattentive mind of the beginner meditator awake to the common beauty and enlightenment all him.

John Rhodes is a mystic poet/novelist who has written 3 poetry books and one novel. They are: "Spirits of Bondage and Inherent Transcendence" "Little Bird Told Me" Mystic Babylon Revisited" "Letters to Esmeralda" John also runs a nationally syndicated PEG Poetry TV Show taped in San Francisco, which he cohosts with Asian poet Clara Hsu. It is called the San Francisco Open Mic Poetry Podcast TV Show. It has run monthly on Public Access TV for about 3 years from about the time of the publishing of this book, "Letters to Esmeralda" As the title indicates this book is dedicated to the Victor Hugo character in "The Hunchback of Notredame" Esmeralda. You can find out more about John Rhodes by visiting: http://rhodespoetry.com, or if you just want the TV Show visit: http://blip.tv/sanfranciscopoetry. John Rhodes is also a videographer/potter/painter/artist in general.