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sloatsj's review against another edition
4.0
I was taken by Brenda Hillman last year, inexplicably - at least to me - since experimental and somewhat obscure poetry isn’t something I’d say was my favourite. But I really enjoyed “Seasonal Works with Letters on Fire” and admired the freedom and energy of the poems.
I found “Death Tractates” second-hand and despite the uninviting title said hey I know her and why not so I did and as much as I was once again prepared not to like it, I really liked it. It is more straightforward than “Seasonal Works.” The poems revolve around the death of a mentor of Hillman’s. I’m sure someone knows who - I don’t. It’s not important.
It’s a book written in grief but the poet puts that slightly aside to ask questions and wonder about existence. This sounds boring. It’s not. There’s mystery about the friend’s death, as if the beloved one were still present, only separated a little, and unreachable. The dead woman is often referred to as a bride and she is everywhere or so one would like to think. The poems aren’t filled with tears or wailing, but with thought and careful wondering.
Here’s the start of ”Seated Bride” -
She had died without warning in early spring.
Which seemed right.
Now that which was far off could become intimate.
I said to the guides, let’s stand
very close to the mystery
and see how far she’s gone…
The speaker expresses the loss of someone she admired and relied on, someone who gave the speaker, too, definition. The identity is wounded in a way, surprised by the loss of something that helped shape it. There are also references to “shape,” as if life gave us shape, but a temporary one.
One of the best poems is “Much Hurrying,” which begins:
—So much hurrying right after a death:
as if a bride were waiting!
Crocuses sliced themselves out
with their penknives. Everything well made
seemed dead to them: Camelias. Their butcher-
paper pink. The well-made poems
seemed dead to you ….
A tractate sets out to explore a particular subject. It’s an attempt at comprehension, or in this case a number of attempts, since the title is plural. The attempt might not succeed - it’s the effort that matters.
I recommend Brenda Hillman. Since I’ve quite randomly tumbled into two of her books and found them both worthwhile, I wouldn’t worry about which one you choose.
I found “Death Tractates” second-hand and despite the uninviting title said hey I know her and why not so I did and as much as I was once again prepared not to like it, I really liked it. It is more straightforward than “Seasonal Works.” The poems revolve around the death of a mentor of Hillman’s. I’m sure someone knows who - I don’t. It’s not important.
It’s a book written in grief but the poet puts that slightly aside to ask questions and wonder about existence. This sounds boring. It’s not. There’s mystery about the friend’s death, as if the beloved one were still present, only separated a little, and unreachable. The dead woman is often referred to as a bride and she is everywhere or so one would like to think. The poems aren’t filled with tears or wailing, but with thought and careful wondering.
Here’s the start of ”Seated Bride” -
She had died without warning in early spring.
Which seemed right.
Now that which was far off could become intimate.
I said to the guides, let’s stand
very close to the mystery
and see how far she’s gone…
The speaker expresses the loss of someone she admired and relied on, someone who gave the speaker, too, definition. The identity is wounded in a way, surprised by the loss of something that helped shape it. There are also references to “shape,” as if life gave us shape, but a temporary one.
One of the best poems is “Much Hurrying,” which begins:
—So much hurrying right after a death:
as if a bride were waiting!
Crocuses sliced themselves out
with their penknives. Everything well made
seemed dead to them: Camelias. Their butcher-
paper pink. The well-made poems
seemed dead to you ….
A tractate sets out to explore a particular subject. It’s an attempt at comprehension, or in this case a number of attempts, since the title is plural. The attempt might not succeed - it’s the effort that matters.
I recommend Brenda Hillman. Since I’ve quite randomly tumbled into two of her books and found them both worthwhile, I wouldn’t worry about which one you choose.
jp6108a's review against another edition
5.0
What is gone can't answer; but if you listen, everything else speaks. Any question you have ever had about loss is answered by what's left behind. The resolution here is beautiful: it's that you're alive.
This is literature. This is life. This is pain and ecstasy and fear and joy all bundled into an image of something silly: a smeared reflection of a bird. A lampshade flower. A plum tree. The soul you lost is still here in all of those living things. It is in language itself.
This is the language of grief. It is a bird. A flower. A tree.
This book-- in particular, the imagery-- forced me to look at what's still here. And that is the greatest gift a writer can give against the fear of death, the reminder to live and to be alive.
This is literature. This is life. This is pain and ecstasy and fear and joy all bundled into an image of something silly: a smeared reflection of a bird. A lampshade flower. A plum tree. The soul you lost is still here in all of those living things. It is in language itself.
This is the language of grief. It is a bird. A flower. A tree.
This book-- in particular, the imagery-- forced me to look at what's still here. And that is the greatest gift a writer can give against the fear of death, the reminder to live and to be alive.
jimmylorunning's review against another edition
5.0
Just re-read this. Still one of my favorite poetry books, and definitely Brenda's best. Her voice (and thought) comes through so human-ly, flawed and immediate. Every time I re-read this, I get something more.
milo_rose's review against another edition
3.0
(3.5)
"and I wanted to hear just one voice
but I heard two,
wanted to be just one thing, but I was several"
- from "Secret Knowledge"
"and I wanted to hear just one voice
but I heard two,
wanted to be just one thing, but I was several"
- from "Secret Knowledge"
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