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4.28 AVERAGE
4.28 AVERAGE
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
relaxing
sad
slow-paced
emotional
inspiring
"...can you hear me, enough
I am human, enough I am alone and I am desperate,
enough of the animal saving me, enough of the high
water, enough sorrow, enough of the air and its ease,
I am asking you to touch me."
"When did kissing become so
dangerous? Or was it always so?
...
I watch those green
trees now and it feels libidinous.
I want them to go on kissing, without
fear. I want to watch them and not
feel so abandoned by hands. Come
home. Everything is begging you."
"I want to honor a man who wants to hold a wild thing, / only for a second, long enough to admire it fully, // and then wants to watch it safely return to its life."
"... And I began to learn
the names of trees. I like to call things as they are. Before, the only thing I was
interested in was love, how it grips you, how it terrifies you, how it annihilates and
resuscitates you. I didn’t know then that it wasn’t even love that I was interested
in but my own suffering. I thought suffering kept things interesting. How funny
that I called it love and the whole time it was pain."
"I was made aware of your fineness.
Your body I thought belonged to me,
until I learned about belonging,
was sublime, looming over me
like a gauntlet, and because
you were a challenge, I rose
from the cold to meet you."
I am human, enough I am alone and I am desperate,
enough of the animal saving me, enough of the high
water, enough sorrow, enough of the air and its ease,
I am asking you to touch me."
"When did kissing become so
dangerous? Or was it always so?
...
I watch those green
trees now and it feels libidinous.
I want them to go on kissing, without
fear. I want to watch them and not
feel so abandoned by hands. Come
home. Everything is begging you."
"I want to honor a man who wants to hold a wild thing, / only for a second, long enough to admire it fully, // and then wants to watch it safely return to its life."
"... And I began to learn
the names of trees. I like to call things as they are. Before, the only thing I was
interested in was love, how it grips you, how it terrifies you, how it annihilates and
resuscitates you. I didn’t know then that it wasn’t even love that I was interested
in but my own suffering. I thought suffering kept things interesting. How funny
that I called it love and the whole time it was pain."
"I was made aware of your fineness.
Your body I thought belonged to me,
until I learned about belonging,
was sublime, looming over me
like a gauntlet, and because
you were a challenge, I rose
from the cold to meet you."
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
i read this slowly over several days and really savored the poems, and while i didn’t love them all i did love most of them. there’s such a thread of hope and resilience running through this.
from LOVER:
In me, / a need to nestle deep into the safekeeping of sky. / I am too used to nostalgia now, a sweet escape / of age. Centuries of pleasure before us and after / us, still right now, a softness like the worn fabric of a nightshirt, / and what I do not say is: I trust the world to come back.
from LOVER:
In me, / a need to nestle deep into the safekeeping of sky. / I am too used to nostalgia now, a sweet escape / of age. Centuries of pleasure before us and after / us, still right now, a softness like the worn fabric of a nightshirt, / and what I do not say is: I trust the world to come back.
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
4.5 stars, rounded up
It should go without saying that these poems are amazing, but I will say it anyway. This U.S. Poet Laureate is most certainly deserving of the title, and you deserve a little break from life to read this book. Read it on a Sunday morning while the sun is shining, during a time where you didn't realize that you needed a break from life.
I also want to note that the construction of the book was stellar. The cadence and length of the poems as you progressed through the book felt like the pacing of a story. It was kind of magical, honestly.
This was a spectacular book of poetry, but it was still difficult to decide between rounding up and rounding down. In a way, a lot of the poems felt familiar, but each of them still had a poignant enough moment to make them unique and beautiful. I thought for most of the book that this would be a 4 star book because of the sense of familiarity I felt, but I realized by the end that this was an asset to the book. This book manages to be unique and moving and inspiring and homey all at once, and that is pretty amazing.
Give it a read, but don't let my 5 star review set any expectations for it. Just experience the book and decide for yourself at the end whether I was right.
It should go without saying that these poems are amazing, but I will say it anyway. This U.S. Poet Laureate is most certainly deserving of the title, and you deserve a little break from life to read this book. Read it on a Sunday morning while the sun is shining, during a time where you didn't realize that you needed a break from life.
I also want to note that the construction of the book was stellar. The cadence and length of the poems as you progressed through the book felt like the pacing of a story. It was kind of magical, honestly.
This was a spectacular book of poetry, but it was still difficult to decide between rounding up and rounding down. In a way, a lot of the poems felt familiar, but each of them still had a poignant enough moment to make them unique and beautiful. I thought for most of the book that this would be a 4 star book because of the sense of familiarity I felt, but I realized by the end that this was an asset to the book. This book manages to be unique and moving and inspiring and homey all at once, and that is pretty amazing.
Give it a read, but don't let my 5 star review set any expectations for it. Just experience the book and decide for yourself at the end whether I was right.
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced