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A review by gijs
A Village Life: Poems by Louise Glück
4.0
Gluck has a poetic voice all her own; without becoming overly sentimental, she conveys a sense of sadness and a sense of the inevitable passing of life, of events; from a distance. The wording is simultaneously detached and intimate and nonetheless succeeds in bringing about a feeling of familiarity; of affiliation.
CROSSROADS
My body, now that we will not be traveling together
much longer
I begin to feel a new tenderness toward you, very raw
and unfamiliar,
like what I remember of love when I was young—
love that was so often foolish in its objectives
but never in its choices, its intensities.
Too much demanded in advance, too much that could
not be promised—
My soul has been so fearful, so violent:
forgive its brutality.
As though it were that soul, my hand moves over you
cautiously,
not wishing to give offense
but eager, finally, to achieve expression as substance:
it is not the earth I will miss,
it is you I will miss.
CROSSROADS
My body, now that we will not be traveling together
much longer
I begin to feel a new tenderness toward you, very raw
and unfamiliar,
like what I remember of love when I was young—
love that was so often foolish in its objectives
but never in its choices, its intensities.
Too much demanded in advance, too much that could
not be promised—
My soul has been so fearful, so violent:
forgive its brutality.
As though it were that soul, my hand moves over you
cautiously,
not wishing to give offense
but eager, finally, to achieve expression as substance:
it is not the earth I will miss,
it is you I will miss.