@book{balaban_2019, place={Port Townsend, Washington}, title={Empires}, publisher={Copper Canyon Press}, author={Balaban, John}, year={2019} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2015, title={After the inauguration, 2013}, volume={62}, number={5}, journal={New York Review of Books}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2015}, pages={29–29} }
 @article{balaban_2015, title={Zen in Vietnamese Poetry and Politics}, volume={93}, ISSN={["2164-0564"]}, DOI={10.1080/07374836.2015.1138083}, abstractNote={Buddhism arrived in what we now call Vietnammore than 2,000 years ago, carried alongwith the first Indian traders, perhaps as early as the third century BCE, as thesemerchants navigated rivers, trekked mountain passes, or sailed into ports en route to China. Sometimes they left behind tangible evidence of their trading, as in ancient Funan in the Mekong Delta where, in the 1940s, archaeologists excavated a cache of Roman coins at Ba Thê mountain, near the site of Óc Eo. Along with the trade in coinage and goods, great ideas inevitably passed through Vietnam as Buddhist missionaries brought their versions of the religion from India, China, and Tibet.1 Most were proselytizing some version ofMahayana, or “Great Vehicle” Buddhism. Today, themain root of Buddhism in Vietnam is the Mahayana Pure Land Buddhism of the Amitābha lineage, or, in Vietnamese, A-di-d–à Phâ. t. This pollination of Buddhist beliefs happened not once but many times over the centuries, as missionary priests carrying Zen doctrine changed the very nature of the Vietnamese polity, as Zen (VN: Thiền Tông) became the practice of royalty, scholars, and military leaders. One could argue that Zen was the midwife to the birth of Vietnamese independence from China in 939 CE, as royalty and field marshals often were raised in Buddhist temples, studied Buddhist texts, were advised at court by Zen monks, and built Zen-doctrine temples throughout the new kingdom. Some, like Thái Tông, the first Trần dynasty king (1218–77), wrote poetry and important treatises on Buddhism, including his Zen commentary Khóa Hu’ Lu. c (“on Emptiness”). His nephew, Prince Hu’ng Ða.o, was raised in Buddhist temples from the age of eight andwent on to lead Vietnamese armies against Chinese andMongol invaders, defeating them on the battlefield. It was Zen rulers who secured the independence of Vietnam and are known today as “great father-mother kings” (bó cái d–a. i vu’o’ng) and are worshipped as saints (thánh) in temples throughout Vietnam. While winning their independence from China, Vietnamese rulers at the same time embraced Chinese habits of government, building a Temple of Literature (dedicated to the Duke of Chou and Confucius) near the capital’s citadel. It was here that exceptional young men were trained in the Chinese classics of poetry and history. It was here that Vietnam’s civil servants received their doctorates. As with the Chinese imperial examination system, the Vietnamese believed that these “literati” had earned the appropriate skills to serve and lead the nation. Their own triennial “imperial” exams lasted until 1919. Today, one can visit the Temple of Literature and still see families burning incense before stele where their graduate ancestors’ names were carved centuries before. What the Vietnamese sought in a civil service trained in the classics is indicated by a stone carving now kept at the nearby sixth-century Trấn Quốc Temple. The inscription dates from 1442 and is carved with the words of the Vietnamese king who judged the doctoral exams:}, number={1}, journal={TRANSLATION REVIEW}, author={Balaban, John}, year={2015}, month={Sep}, pages={88–93} }
 @book{balaban_2006, title={Path, crooked path}, ISBN={1556592388}, publisher={Port Townsend, WA: Copper Canyon Press}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2006} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2005, title={Loving Graham Greene}, volume={44}, number={1}, journal={Michigan Quarterly Review}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2005}, pages={08-} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2003, title={Going to war}, volume={3}, number={2003 Winter/Spring}, journal={Lyric (Christiansburg, Va.)}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2003}, pages={49–50} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2003, title={Highway 61 Revisited}, volume={79}, number={3}, journal={Virginia Quarterly Review}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2003}, pages={498–499} }
 @article{balaban_2003, title={Six Vietnamese ca dao}, volume={77}, ISSN={["0196-3570"]}, DOI={10.2307/40158173}, number={3-4}, journal={WORLD LITERATURE TODAY}, author={Balaban, J}, year={2003}, pages={44–45} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2003, title={Sotol}, volume={79}, number={3}, journal={Virginia Quarterly Review}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2003}, pages={500} }
 @inbook{balaban_2002, title={At 4:00 A.M. asleep}, booktitle={Stand Up poetry: An expanded anthology}, publisher={Iowa City: University of Iowa Press}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002} }
 @inbook{balaban_2002, title={Doing good}, booktitle={The Pushcart book of essays: The best essays from a quarter-century of The Pushcart Prize}, publisher={Wainscott, NY: Pushcart Press ; New York: Distributed by W.W. Norton & Co.}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002}, pages={26–38} }
 @article{balaban_2002, title={Going out one day}, number={2}, journal={Mantis}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002}, pages={30–36} }
 @article{balaban_2002, title={Ho Xuan Huong}, volume={7}, number={2002}, journal={Nhip Song Magazine}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002}, pages={48–53} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2002, title={Ibn Fadhlan on an Arab Mission, Encounters Vikings, Volga River, 922 A.D.}, volume={114}, number={Fall}, journal={TriQuarterly}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002}, pages={161} }
 @book{balaban_2002, title={Remembering heaven's face: A story of rescue in wartime Vietnam}, ISBN={0820324159}, publisher={Athens, GA : University of Georgia Press}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2002, title={Some Dogs of The World}, volume={19}, number={3/4}, journal={Alaska Quarterly Review}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002}, pages={260–261} }
 @unpublished{balaban_2002, title={The Lives of the poets}, number={289}, journal={Poetry Flash}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002}, pages={11} }
 @inbook{balaban_2002, title={Words for my daughter}, booktitle={Stand Up poetry: An expanded anthology}, publisher={Iowa City: University of Iowa Press}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2002}, pages={57–59} }
 @article{balaban_2001, title={Georgi Borrisov in Paris}, volume={60}, number={2001 Sept 16}, journal={News and Observer [Raleigh, N.C.]}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2001}, pages={2D} }
 @book{balaban_2001, title={Spring essence, the poetry of Ho Xuan Huong}, number={2001-2002 Winter}, journal={Neon}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2001}, pages={8} }
 @article{balaban_2001, title={Translating Ho Xuan Huong}, number={37}, journal={Vietnam Cultural Window}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2001}, pages={12–13} }
 @article{balaban_2000, title={About the poet Ho Xuan Huong}, volume={29}, number={5}, journal={American Poetry Review}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={2000}, pages={4–6} }
 @book{spring essence: the poetry of ho xuan huong_2000, ISBN={1556591489}, publisher={Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyon Press}, year={2000} }
 @book{balaban_1997, title={Locusts at the edge of summer: New & selected poems}, ISBN={1556591233}, publisher={Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyon Press}, author={Balaban, J.}, year={1997} }