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percystjoan's review against another edition
5.0
favorite:
balance
balance is noticed most when almost failed of-
in an elephant's delicate wavering on her circus stool, for instance,
or that moment
when a ladder starts to tip but steadies back.
there are, too, its mysterious departures.
hours after the dishes are washed and stacked,
a metal bowl clangs to the floor,
the weight of drying water all that altered;
a painting vertical for years
one morning-why?-requires a restoring tap.
you have felt it disappearing
from your own capricious heart-
a restlessness enters, the smallest leaning begins.
already then inevitable,
the full collision,
the life you will describe afterward always as "after."
[other favorites: for horses, horseflies and a scale weighs the outer world in pounds and ounces]
balance
balance is noticed most when almost failed of-
in an elephant's delicate wavering on her circus stool, for instance,
or that moment
when a ladder starts to tip but steadies back.
there are, too, its mysterious departures.
hours after the dishes are washed and stacked,
a metal bowl clangs to the floor,
the weight of drying water all that altered;
a painting vertical for years
one morning-why?-requires a restoring tap.
you have felt it disappearing
from your own capricious heart-
a restlessness enters, the smallest leaning begins.
already then inevitable,
the full collision,
the life you will describe afterward always as "after."
[other favorites: for horses, horseflies and a scale weighs the outer world in pounds and ounces]
bwreads's review against another edition
5.0
It's hard to say which poem in this book might be my favorite. So many of them moved me! I loved "Habit," and "Rebus," and "Patched Carpet." "Pillow," and "Rock." "Balance." I will definitely be seeking out more of Jane Hirshfield's books.
hanamarma's review against another edition
5.0
Hirshfield's poetry has a depth of wisdom and intelligence that pull me in and keep me there. Many of these poems resonated with me and awed me. A great collection.
lgallo's review against another edition
3.0
Small things were inspiration for most of the poems in this book - a button, leather, a typhoid vaccine. I liked the depth she brought to those items, but I much preferred the poems that delved deeper into the author's psychological attachments to everyday things. 'Silk Cord' is probably my favorite of the entire book, but 'Pilllow' and 'Habit' are also memorable. Knowing Hirshfield's other works, though, some of the included works in this book are lack-luster.
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