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A review by nityaji
Stag's Leap by Sharon Olds
5.0
It's been years since I've bought a book of poetry, especially a book of new poetry. I remember liking Sharon Olds when I studied poetry many years ago, so when I read that Sharon Olds had won the TS Eliot poetry prize and the Pulitzer prize for this collection of poems I felt compelled to buy it. Stag's Leap is written about the end of the author's marriage, an end called for rather suddenly by her husband.
The poems drew me in right away, in their chronological description of her husband telling her, to talking about how to tell the kids, who were grown, (theirs was a thirty year marriage), to telling her mother, to the their last lovemaking, to their last day living together in the house.
Poignant, honest, riveting. This is the story of love, of abrupt loss of love, of grief, but also acceptance. I found this book soon after my sister's husband of almost 35 years suddenly left her for another woman. I saw how devastated she was, and I thought of her while Sharon Old's words struck me, viscerally at times.
In the poem "Last Look" Ms. Olds describes the "last minute of our marriage":
"I looked for him,
and he gave me the gift,he let me in,
knowing he would never once, in this world or in
any other, have to do it again,
and I saw him, not as he really was, I was
still without the strength of anger,but I
saw him see me, even now
that dropping down into trust's affection
in his gaze, and I held it, some seconds, quiet,
and I said, Good-bye, and he said, Good-bye,
and I closed my eyes, and rose up out of the
passenger seat in a spiral like someone
coming up out of a car gone off a
bridge into deep water...
...and I saw again, how blessed my life has been,
first, to have been able to love,
then, to have the parting behind me,
and not to have lost him when the kids were young,
and the kids now not at all to have lost him,
and not to have lost him when he loved me, and not to have
lost someone who could have loved me for life."
I mean, who could fail to be touched by such sentiments?
To find the blessing in having loved, and in the fact that he did not die while still loving her. I have never thought of such things, but hearing her give voice to these thoughts I was deeply moved.
These poems are deeply personal and not depressing or morbid. They are a tribute to love, and I am so, so happy that out of the ashes of her marriage, Sharon Olds rose triumphant with this excellent work of art.
The poems drew me in right away, in their chronological description of her husband telling her, to talking about how to tell the kids, who were grown, (theirs was a thirty year marriage), to telling her mother, to the their last lovemaking, to their last day living together in the house.
Poignant, honest, riveting. This is the story of love, of abrupt loss of love, of grief, but also acceptance. I found this book soon after my sister's husband of almost 35 years suddenly left her for another woman. I saw how devastated she was, and I thought of her while Sharon Old's words struck me, viscerally at times.
In the poem "Last Look" Ms. Olds describes the "last minute of our marriage":
"I looked for him,
and he gave me the gift,he let me in,
knowing he would never once, in this world or in
any other, have to do it again,
and I saw him, not as he really was, I was
still without the strength of anger,but I
saw him see me, even now
that dropping down into trust's affection
in his gaze, and I held it, some seconds, quiet,
and I said, Good-bye, and he said, Good-bye,
and I closed my eyes, and rose up out of the
passenger seat in a spiral like someone
coming up out of a car gone off a
bridge into deep water...
...and I saw again, how blessed my life has been,
first, to have been able to love,
then, to have the parting behind me,
and not to have lost him when the kids were young,
and the kids now not at all to have lost him,
and not to have lost him when he loved me, and not to have
lost someone who could have loved me for life."
I mean, who could fail to be touched by such sentiments?
To find the blessing in having loved, and in the fact that he did not die while still loving her. I have never thought of such things, but hearing her give voice to these thoughts I was deeply moved.
These poems are deeply personal and not depressing or morbid. They are a tribute to love, and I am so, so happy that out of the ashes of her marriage, Sharon Olds rose triumphant with this excellent work of art.