National Poetry Month Wrap-up

National Poetry Month has been a great success fro me. I managed to read thirteen small volumes of poetry this month, the most I've ever read in one month. They ranged from wonderful and inspiring to confusing and unexceptional.  The first six volumes I reviewed here, here, and here. The last seven I highlight below with a note of what I liked/didn't like, something surprising, and, a favorite line or phrase from one of the poems.

 

Day is Done: A Nelson Mandela Tribute by Maya Angelou*

Liked: This short volume of poetry was a wonderful farewell poem to a remarkable man how saved South Africa from apartheid without a war!

Disliked: I wanted more, it was so short. I wanted to sit with it longer than I did.

Surprised by: I had no idea that Mandela and Angelou were friends. Why would I?  I wish I knew more about their friendship. 

"No sun outlasts its sunset, but it will rise again and bring the dawn."

Why I Wake Early: New Poems by Mary Oliver

Liked: I love Mary Oliver's poems but I was especially delighted that this collection was full of new poems, most of her books are only about half full of new ones.

Disliked: Nothing. I liked it all.

Surprised by: This collection seemed more spiritual than I remember of other collections of hers.

"All things are inventions of holiness. Some more rascally than others."

Violet Bent Over Backward in the Grass by Lana Del Ray*

Liked: I adored the first poem for which the book is named. 

Disliked: There was little I could relate to in these poems. In fact I started to feel sorry for the poet as she seemed so lonely and almost addicted to bad men. Clearly I didn't understand most of the poems.

Surprised by: I had no idea who Lana Del Ray was until I looked her up after reading this collection. She is a singer/songwriter. This is her first poetry collection. (It makes me feel old to admit I have never heard of her before.)

"with the exuberance that only doing nothing can bring
waiting for the fireworks to begin

and in that moment
i decided to do nothing about everything

forever. "

Scribbled in the Dark by Charles Simic*

Liked: I could understand what was going on in each poem, some were even humorous.

Disliked: For the most part the collection seemed uninspired but upon closer inspection it was probably me who was uninspired when I read the poems, not the poems themselves. I laughed once or twice but groaned outwardly a few times, too.

Surprised: I was shocked to learn that the poet was a past Poet Laureate since I'd never heard of him before.

"My childhood. An old silent movie."

I Can't Talk About the Trees Without the Blood by Tiana Clark*

Liked: This collection of poems delved deeply into the impact racism has on people.

Disliked: The cover is terrible. It makes me want to fling the book away and I don't understand it at all.

Surprised by: Goodread reviews of this poetry collection were all 5s yet I had a hard time understanding most poems so I felt ripped off. I wanted a "5" experience with it, too, but mine was only a "3" experience. I'm guessing that my experience with this collection would have been improved if I heard these poems read out loud.

Concerning the death of Trayvon Martin...

"I think about eyeballs, the first impression,

the action that follows, George Zimmerman stepping

out of his car. I think what would have happened

if he'd just given him a ride home?"

Ledger by Jane Hirshfield

Liked/Disliked: I found myself to be fairly neutral about every poem in this collection.

Surprised by: This is the first collection of Jane Hirshfield poems I've ever read and my expectations were high. My expectations and the experience didn't match, sadly.

"Bees do not question the sweetness of what sways beneath them."

What Do We Know by Mary Oliver

Liked: I just like Oliver's poetry.

Disliked: Hmm. This is not my favorite collection of her poems but I can't put my finger on why.

Surprised: Her love for things that make my skin crawl, like snakes, often catches me by surprise.

"I rise

from the comfortable bed and go

to another room, where my books are lined up

in their neat and colorful rows. How

 

magical they are! I choose one

and open it. Soon

I have wandered in over the waves of the words

to the temple of thought."

The books denoted with * were part of grab-bag of books organized for me, upon request, from my public library. I requested small volumes of poetry and those books were a delight and a surprise for me. 

In addition to the four listed above, the grab-bag contained one more book: The Ancient Mariner by David Jones, edited by Thomas Dilworth. On first inspection the book appeared to be an illustrated version of "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" so why is the artist credited with authoring the book, not Coleridge, the poet who authored the poem? I dug in a little deeper today and discovered the answer. David Jones not only created interesting copper engravings but also annotated the poem in two limited editions, one in 1929 and the other in 1964. Notes written by Jones about his process were written in 1964. So that is cool and interesting. Not interesting enough for me to read the whole thing, but cool nonetheless. Jones's notes, annotations, and the original poem by Coleridge take up 82 pages. The rest of the book is written by Thomas Dilworth who analyzes Jones's engravings and annotations, for thirty additional pages of text. Talk about complicated (and tedious.) I decided to not read the book, is it any wonder? But in case you are writing your doctoral dissertation on Coleridge or Davis, be sure to look for this book. I'll leave you with the only line I can remember from the famous poem, last studied by me in junior high school.

"Water water, everywhere,

Nor any drop to drink." 

-Anne