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. Red Hawk held the Alfred Hodder Fellowship in the Humanities at Princeton (1991- 1992). His first book, Journey of the Medicine Man, was a finalist for the Walt Whitman award of the Academy of American Poets. His second, The Sioux Dog Dance, was the runner-up for the Paterson Poetry Prize and was nominated for the 1992 Pulitzer Prize in poetry. His most recent collection, Raven's Paradise, won the 2009 Bright Hill Press Poetry Prize. His one-non-fiction book, Self Observation: The Awakening of Conscience has received critical acclaim. He is an English professor at the University of Arkansas. 1. Anything But God When you meet the Guru, the whole world is in flames, the heart is on fire and the mind claws to regain its hold like a rat flushed down a sewer. There were 30 of us gathered in a room to be with the Guru and hear Him speak. One guy had a question about his anger; some questions won't let go of you, they break you down, they rip and tear. Then you stand or run, depending on how bad you want to know. This guy ran, disappeared; God is a risk the mind cannot take. Later we asked him, Where'd you go? I got bored, he said, went to Hooters. Once the Guru gets you, nothing else matters: not tits, or ass, or bored wife-beaters, not global polluters, government looters, or schoolyard shooters. But until that time, anything in the world is better than bowing down and loving the Guru as your Mother. 2. Getting My Hands Dirty Yogi Ramsuratkumar lived on the town garbage dump in Tiruvannamalai for 25 years, and for many of those years every time He went out on the street the village thugs, young boys angry that they had been cheated by life and without any other recourse, beat the Spiritual Master and left Him lying bleeding in the street where He only Blessed and forgave them. This occurred after His enlightenment for which He endured unspeakable suffering, living in a tiny room with snakes and scorpions and white ants crawling all over His body and stinging Him until the body was nearly dead and this is the man I refuse to bow down to because doing so might entail for me some personal inconvenience, some small sacrifice which is more than I am willing to put up with; I don't want to get my hands dirty. 3. The Fine Print In the Bodhisattva Vow Where is it written that you will never retire, even when you die? In the Bodhisattva contract, that's where. But it is written in print so fine that only the star