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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
I’d Ask Him for It —
“…I think he loved being loved, I think those were the cadences, plagal, of a good, lived life..”
Not Quiet Enough —
“…I who had no other gift to give the world than to hold up what I thought was love’s mirror up to us..”
On Reading the Newspaper For the First Time As An Adult —
“…count me a reader of the Earth’s gossip…I taste what he tastes each morning without moving my lips.”
“…I think he loved being loved, I think those were the cadences, plagal, of a good, lived life..”
Not Quiet Enough —
“…I who had no other gift to give the world than to hold up what I thought was love’s mirror up to us..”
On Reading the Newspaper For the First Time As An Adult —
“…count me a reader of the Earth’s gossip…I taste what he tastes each morning without moving my lips.”
sad
fast-paced
Probably great if you are going through a divorce, but not for me.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
emotional
reflective
sad
medium-paced
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Can't help but notice that the lead review here is negative and written by a crabby old white man. Perhaps he was not the audience for this book. I am. Loved it. These poems combined art and craft, emotion, lived life, and wrestling with truth. From the minute adjustment in perspective that comes from the placement of the apostrophe in the title to each of the exquisitely crafted poems, I savored this book, confining myself usually to just a poem a day. The book traces the end of a marriage, before, during and after the rupture. It's filled with images and language of pain, truth, and beauty.
Must reread before assigning stars. At the start it is so painful that I had to put it down. Started it over today and read the whole thing at the beach. Felt like something was missing, like something inherent to the subject didn't flower. But beach brain is bleary.
This was my first collection by Sharon Olds and it absolutely gutted me. Beautiful, raw narrative, rich in imagery. The story of an end of a marriage, the heartbreak, the healing. Lovely poems I will return to.
I am Bad At Poetry but I have been making a concentrated effort to be reading at least one book of poems at a time and to branch out to newer works and people not previously on my radar. I read a book of Olds' last year, Wellspring, and really adored it. This, a series of poems all dealing in some way with her divorce and the fallout, is almost unbearably open and painful. I really like Olds' style, which seems simple (she does not engage in too much abstraction or reference) but betrays hidden depths. And she is a master of a visual style or particularly poignant similes and metaphors. Her words flow and bury deep. I look forward to seeking out more of her works and continuing to Get OK At Poetry. (Next up is Jane: A Murder by Maggie Nelson and then probably a Seamus Heaney book).