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tomhill's review against another edition
4.0
"You were born noble: a tree.
Caustics and acids changed you
to what you now are,
protective, stiff, almost weightless.
Both captive and guard,
your desire is to be frivolous, self-destructive,
undone and opened.
Your bright red necklace announces:
"Tear here."
Inside you, tobacco.
Inside you, peppermints, gingersnaps, gum.
You would not be found
wrapping a mattress or gun.
You were dictated into the world
by the muse of "it could be."
You were unlikely but useful,
so kept.
I include this rather long passage from the poem "Cellophane: An Assay" because I lack the ability to describe Hirshfield's poetry and do it justice. What's interesting about this particular poem is that if you ignore the title, Hirshfield could be writing about a person. There's an intimacy and beauty there, and then you remember she is writing about cellophane. If she writes this way about an inanimate object, just imagine how she writes about people. Also, I like to pretend this poem is about a person. I feel as if I should read this collection at least once more because like any poetry worth reading, this work has depths which could be further delved. The imagery and the inventiveness of the language are wonderful.
Caustics and acids changed you
to what you now are,
protective, stiff, almost weightless.
Both captive and guard,
your desire is to be frivolous, self-destructive,
undone and opened.
Your bright red necklace announces:
"Tear here."
Inside you, tobacco.
Inside you, peppermints, gingersnaps, gum.
You would not be found
wrapping a mattress or gun.
You were dictated into the world
by the muse of "it could be."
You were unlikely but useful,
so kept.
I include this rather long passage from the poem "Cellophane: An Assay" because I lack the ability to describe Hirshfield's poetry and do it justice. What's interesting about this particular poem is that if you ignore the title, Hirshfield could be writing about a person. There's an intimacy and beauty there, and then you remember she is writing about cellophane. If she writes this way about an inanimate object, just imagine how she writes about people. Also, I like to pretend this poem is about a person. I feel as if I should read this collection at least once more because like any poetry worth reading, this work has depths which could be further delved. The imagery and the inventiveness of the language are wonderful.
katepowellshine's review against another edition
5.0
I don't require wisdom from poetry, but when I find it, it is so very satisfying.
snowmaiden's review against another edition
4.0
This may be the first poetry book I ever read based solely on a Goodreads recommendation. Hirshfield certainly has her admirers here, and I see the appeal, but it’s not quite my cup of tea. Still, she has a great way with imagery, and there were many individual poems I loved, particularly “Hamper” and “Entanglement.”
happy_stomach's review against another edition
4.0
I can't wait to re-read this when I have a cold, in winter, when Chicagoans are outside doing dibs for their parking spaces. This and the peoplescapes of Piero della Francesca, Hirshfield knows intimately.
lucasmiller's review against another edition
4.0
Saw a Hirshfield poem quoted in a tweet a few days ago, and just being curious, check if my school library had any of her books. They did, but not the volume with the poem that caught my eye. I feel like I haven't read a collection of poems in a long time. It's strange, each one feels like it should be savored and contemplated, not barreled through in such a hurry as I tend to read most thing these days, like I am about to be pulled away. But reading steadily, paying attention, but sort of letting the verses wash over you, different aspects come to the attention than I would expect. I copied a line or two and at least one full poem into my notebook, mostly for the pleasure of writing something that wasn't about my work schedule. At several points, I felt like the poems reminded me of Stephen Dunn's, whose work I really love, but there would be an image or a juxtaposition that pulled me out of the narrative or scene and made the poem more like a structure to admire than a story to inhabit or get inside of. I really enjoyed this collection. Likely to check out the other, early collection later this week.