In Buddha vs. Bonobo, Brendan Walsh juxtaposes ancient human philosophy with the inherent spirituality of our Great Ape cousins, bonobos. Guided by humor, animal practicality, and the omnipresent questions of existence, these poems seek answers by imagining what humans lost by leaving the Congo River Basin millions of years ago to establish civilization, property, agriculture.
“We don’t think it makes sense. We dream of our cousins in trees…” That’s what Brendan Walsh does in this provocative collection of brief poems. He dreams of bonobos as natural sages—unlike the Buddha, their “legs just fold that way”—who share their wisdom with the ever-restless humans (“our world’s torment”). In the second part of the volume, Walsh’s dreams extend beyond bonobos to people whose uncommon lives lead to alternative takes on fundamental issues: a monk who has seen it all, a cult member (“Consider, though, one stretch … without thought, questions”), ancient wanderers turning experience into myth, a Jain starving himself to death, and more. Welcome surprises, and possible truths, abound.
—Tracy Duvall