A review by moonpix
Winter Recipes from the Collective: Poems by Louise Glück

5.0

An incredible final artistic statement. Each of these poems are essential, but my personal favorites were The Denial of Death, Autumn, and A Memory. She speaks with intensely focused clarity on the mysteries of memory, suffering, and aging. Here, the attempt to process trauma is compared to the act of creation, and is even presented as a prerequisite for meaningful art. These poems know that great hardship also brings with it the shock of abandonment and initial (though often lingering) alienation from others. But it is again also through this that communion through art, and with other artists, emerges.

“Do not be sad, he said. You have begun your own journey, not into the world, like your friend's, but into yourself and your memories.”