Mother Guru is a deeply personal, raw and vulnerable look at the relationship between a disciple and his or her spiritual teacher or Master. It is refined devotional poetry in the tradition of Hafiz and Rumi–whose poems of love continue to inspire millions throughout the world. In Western culture today, so marked by anti-religious sentiment and overriding dissatisfaction with the forms of the past, such centuries-old work as these great lovers of God have shared are indeed an enigma. Yet, their enormous popularity points to a hunger that is not being addressed in other significant ways. The special gift of Mother Guru is that it flows from the same heart stream as the writings of Hafiz, Rumi, Teresa of Avila, Kabir, Francis of Assisi and others who were "lost" to God in the most profound sense of the word. The fact that this poetry appears in contemporary dress is more gracious still. The author, Red Hawk, is a widely published and award-winning poet, and a tenured professor of English at the University of Arkansas. He is also an unabashed lover, a disciple of a great contemporary Master, Mister Lee Lozowick (1943-2010), and one who is willing to bare that discipleship in poetry written as prayer, expressly for and with his guru in mind and heart. In this sense, Mother Guru is a daring book and courageous, as the author overlooks scholarly reputation, trusting rather in the love that infuses what he writes. He also risks the opprobrium of those who limit the expression of the spiritual to sweet words and lofty sentiments. These are poems of a truly broken heart — pleading poems, begging poems, prayers and curses, bawdy, ironic, hilarious, tough-minded, sometimes angry, often just broken. Few books of poetry today attempt to traverse this razor's edge—fewer still can do so with respect, dignity and passion. Mother Guru is a guidebook to such a challenge and offers inspiration and a call to profound honesty to the sincere seeker of any theistic, guru-oriented, or mystical tradition, whether Christian, Sufi, Buddhist or nature-based. In so far as it opens a window into the Master-disciple relationship, it is particularly useful to those who have worked or wish to work with a teacher or mentor. Red Hawk's years of discipleship under the fierce protection and guidance of a living Master make him an ideal witness to some hard-won and paid-for insights into the spiritual life; insights that may have relevance for others who undertake the spiritual path.
