Robert Bly and the Alchemy of Poetry with Haydn Reiss

GoDeX
2 days ago
2 min read

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Documentary filmmaker Haydn Reiss joins us to talk about Robert Bly, poetry, translation, longing, grief, and the mysterious art of finding the right words for what the soul knows. We explore Bly’s cultural impact, his gift for speaking to the hunger of men, the strange alchemy poetry can work in a life, and what it means to preserve voices that still have the power to change us. Along the way, we also discuss William Stafford, Rumi, Coleman Barks, and why poetry may matter even more in dark and distracted times.

Watch the Films

Visit Haydn's Poetry Docs YouTube channel to watch his outstanding documentaries on Robert Bly, Rumi, William Stafford, and others for free in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Robert Bly's birth.

Episode Highlights

[00:51] Introduction to Haydn Reiss

[02:16] the Alchemy of Robert Bly

Haydn reflects on first encountering Robert Bly in the early 1990s and describes the strange, clarifying alchemy Bly could work simply by reading the right poem at the right moment. The conversation explores Bly’s spiritual depth; his impact on men hungry for grief, vulnerability, and meaning; and the way his poetry reaches past analysis and straight into the heart.

[14:37] "Good Ingredients"

Haydn reflects on his path from Hollywood into documentary filmmaking, his nerve-racking decision to approach Robert Bly before he had ever made a film, and the devotion that eventually shaped Robert Bly: A Thousand Years of Joy. Along the way, he shares his creative philosophy (start with “good ingredients.")

[21:11] Rumi and Coleman Barks

Haydn tells the story of how Coleman Barks drew him into making a film about Rumi, and how marriage unexpectedly gave him the key he needed to approach that world: love. The conversation explores Rumi’s arrival in the West, the challenge of translation, Coleman’s singular voice and presence, and how some translators convey not just the language of a poet, but the experience itself.

[32:23] Singing in the Dark Times

Drawing on Bly’s The Sibling Society, Haydn reflects on the pressure to conform, the loss of depth and originality, and the uneasy fact that there may be no grand solution—only the difficult work of trying to live truthfully and keep singing in the dark.

[40:17] William Stafford and Just War

Haydn reflects on making his film about William Stafford’s conscientious objection during World War II and on the hard questions Stafford’s witness still raises about war and determining the "right thing to do." This is not a simple anti-war argument, but a deeper exchange about just war, opposing views, political simplification, and the need for a moral imagination willing to slow down and wrestle with what is actually right.