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A review by pattydsf
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Wisława Szymborska
4.0
“After every war
Someone has to tidy up.
Things won’t pick
themselves up, after all.”
From The End and the Beginning
“A drop of water fell on my hand,
drawn from the Ganges and the Nile,
from hoarfrost ascended to heaven off a seal’s whiskers,
from jugs broken in the cities of Ys and Tyre.”
From Water
“Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.”
From Nothing Twice
It took me literally years to get through this book of poetry. I would pick it up, read a poem and then put it back down in my to-be-read pile. This was no reflection on the poetry; I just don’t fall into a book of poetry like I do a novel. Thanks to the Bookriot Challenge (http://bookriot.com/2014/12/15/book-riot-2015-read-harder-challenge/), I actually made time to finish this book.
I could have easily quoted from other poems. One of the joys of reading poetry and especially this book of poetry is that phrases from poems can stick in your head. They are beautiful, or say something you could not find words for, or funny or just amazing. Szymborska’s poetry does all of these things.
It is hard to recommend that people should go pick up a book of poems. Very few of us manage to read a whole book. The number of poetry books on my shelf is infinitesimal. So, I don’t suggest that you run out and get this book. What I do suggest is that you go to the web, type in Szymborska and poetry and read a couple of her poems. You won’t be sorry. She wrote beautiful poetry.
Someone has to tidy up.
Things won’t pick
themselves up, after all.”
From The End and the Beginning
“A drop of water fell on my hand,
drawn from the Ganges and the Nile,
from hoarfrost ascended to heaven off a seal’s whiskers,
from jugs broken in the cities of Ys and Tyre.”
From Water
“Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.”
From Nothing Twice
It took me literally years to get through this book of poetry. I would pick it up, read a poem and then put it back down in my to-be-read pile. This was no reflection on the poetry; I just don’t fall into a book of poetry like I do a novel. Thanks to the Bookriot Challenge (http://bookriot.com/2014/12/15/book-riot-2015-read-harder-challenge/), I actually made time to finish this book.
I could have easily quoted from other poems. One of the joys of reading poetry and especially this book of poetry is that phrases from poems can stick in your head. They are beautiful, or say something you could not find words for, or funny or just amazing. Szymborska’s poetry does all of these things.
It is hard to recommend that people should go pick up a book of poems. Very few of us manage to read a whole book. The number of poetry books on my shelf is infinitesimal. So, I don’t suggest that you run out and get this book. What I do suggest is that you go to the web, type in Szymborska and poetry and read a couple of her poems. You won’t be sorry. She wrote beautiful poetry.