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forgereads17's review
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
sad
fast-paced
5.0
julienbakerstan69's review
4.0
“my mother wants to know
why, if i hate
family so much,
i went ahead and
had one. i don’t
answer my mother.
what i hated
was being a child,
having no choice about
the people i loved.
i don’t love my son
the way i meant to love him.
i thought i’d be
the lover of orchids who finds
red trillium growing
in the pine shade and doesn’t
touch it, doesn’t need
to possess it. what i am
is the scientist,
who comes to that flower
with a magnifying glass
and doesn’t leave, though
the sun burns a brown
circle of grass around
the flower. which is
more or less the way
my mother loved me.
i must learn
to forgive my mother,
now that i’m helpless
to spare my son.”
—brown circle
why, if i hate
family so much,
i went ahead and
had one. i don’t
answer my mother.
what i hated
was being a child,
having no choice about
the people i loved.
i don’t love my son
the way i meant to love him.
i thought i’d be
the lover of orchids who finds
red trillium growing
in the pine shade and doesn’t
touch it, doesn’t need
to possess it. what i am
is the scientist,
who comes to that flower
with a magnifying glass
and doesn’t leave, though
the sun burns a brown
circle of grass around
the flower. which is
more or less the way
my mother loved me.
i must learn
to forgive my mother,
now that i’m helpless
to spare my son.”
—brown circle
bluengreyg's review
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
This one's for the oldest daughters with both daddy and mommy issues!! Every single poem hurt and hugged me.
stimose's review
5.0
Kräver vidare reflektion. Kommer läsa om den och förmodligen utveckla mina tankar mer andra gången jag läser den
cielllo's review
4.0
there's something eschatological about this.
so deeply personal, the clarity with which louise works through loss, mourning, and family relations really struck me as unique. loved 'the untrustworthy speaker' in relation to the autobiographical contents.
to clean out the inscriptions of the family graves they use handkerchiefs: wiping out cemetery dirt almost equated as an act to wiping away tears. death in life.
but also life in death: another theme that struck me was the impotency and immobility of women in the shadow of the deceased father. "they both see the house as his true grave" sums up this notion of the widows as living dead, alive but buried, muted, incapable to act.
'birthday', 'celestial music' and 'first memory' are some personal favourites here.
so deeply personal, the clarity with which louise works through loss, mourning, and family relations really struck me as unique. loved 'the untrustworthy speaker' in relation to the autobiographical contents.
to clean out the inscriptions of the family graves they use handkerchiefs: wiping out cemetery dirt almost equated as an act to wiping away tears. death in life.
but also life in death: another theme that struck me was the impotency and immobility of women in the shadow of the deceased father. "they both see the house as his true grave" sums up this notion of the widows as living dead, alive but buried, muted, incapable to act.
'birthday', 'celestial music' and 'first memory' are some personal favourites here.