Short Poetry Book Reviews: WOMAN WITHOUT SHAME: LITTLE ALLELUIAS: and GOLDENROD

Our yard, a year ago this week. Spring has sprung!

April and National Poetry Month are rapidly coming to a close. This month I read six poetry books in celebration of this literary art form. I've reviewed three of the books earlier in the month and will wrap up with short reviews of the other three. If you would like to look back on the first three reviews, click on the hyperlinks:

The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang
Poems & Prayers by Matthew McConaughey
Why Fathers Cry at Night by Kwame Alexander

Woman Without Shame: Poems by Sandra Cisneros (2022)

Years ago I read A House on Mango Street which was Cisneros' her first novel and her most famous book. She has since then published many other novels, essays, and short story collections. This is her first poetry collection published in the last twenty-five years. Since I was familiar with her first novel, widely published and read by young teens, I thought I knew what to expect. I was wrong. I was expecting a G rating and got PG-17! 

Cisneros is 71-years-old, unmarried, and lives in Mexico right now, though she has spent much of her life living in the USA. In fact, her childhood was destabilized by how often she and her family moved back and forth between the two countries, making her feel like she never fit in in either culture. When she was an undergraduate in college she had an affair with one of her professors and that relationship was abusive. She describes it as “very damaging to me” and is “why my writing is always dealing with sexuality and wickedness” (Wikipedia). I caught the sexuality and wickedness vibes from many of the poems. Several of those poems I just skipped over figuring I didn't need to know the details.

The collection is divided into five parts with headings in Spanish. Usually, in my experience, when poetry books are divided up into parts, the sections relate to the title of the collection where those poems were originally published. I don't think that it is case here, since this book has more the 50 original poems in it. Translated her sections are: Shameless Woman; A Hatless Sky; Songs and Cries; Cisneros is Uncensored; A Little Something Extra. I liked some poems in all the sections but my least favorites were all in the uncensored part. Oh well, I know I'm a prude. Here is a little highlight from the collection:

Back Then and Even Now

A Song for Guitar

I liked being young

with you once.

A moment or two, 

here and there

with you once.

When you 

were a poet,

and I was a poet.

Wordsmiths afraid

of the words

shimmering

right before us.

One thing I could feel in every poem was Cisneros' passion, a little bit of her angst, and her loneliness.

I probably would have liked the poems better if I could read Spanish since many of the poems contained untranslated words. My rating: 4 stars.

 

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Little Alleluias: Collected Poetry and Prose by Mary Oliver (2025)

Mary Oliver died in 2019. Call me surprised when I saw a new collection of Oliver's poems and prose for sale in a bookstore in 2025, Little Alleluias. The poor gal at the checkout counter who tried to look interested while she rang up my purchase as I babbled about my excitement at something new by a beloved, but dead poet. Well, I was half right. The poems and prose were by Mary Oliver, but they were not new (obviously) but just a new organization of some her poems, essays, and literary criticism.  

The editor of Little Alleluia said this in the acknowledgment section:

Little Alleluias is a midlife masterpiece -- so to end as we begin: thank you Mary Oliver for your insight and grace, for teaching us how to belong to a land that belongs to itself, and for guiding us through the light and dark, and rainbowed clothes of the world. -Niyata

I love the title, Little Alleluias, don't you? In the forward to the section called " Long Life" Mary Oliver, herself, wrote about the difference between writing poetry and writing prose. She prefers poetry but I think her prose is pretty darn good, too. It is in her conclusion where we find out about the book's title:

One thing I want to mention before the pages actually begin. Writing poems, for me but not necessarily for others, is a way of offering praise to the world. In this book, you will find, set among prose pieces, a few poems. Think of them that way, as little alleluias. They're not trying to explain anything as the prose does. They just sit there on the page and breathe. A few lilies, or wrens, or trout among the mysterious shadows, the cold water, and the somber oaks.

I'm fairly sure I've read all the poems and most of the prose before, but it was so comforting to visit them again with new eyes and in different circumstances. There are none of my personal favorites included therein but there are many wonderful poems which encourage us to be aware of nature. In "Sand Dabs, Nine" Mary Oliver shares little thoughts, really, but more than that. One reviewer referred to her Sand Dabs as “just a few lines, largehearted and limber, each saturated with meaning and illustrating the principle it espouses in a clever meta-manifestation of that principle embedded in the language itself." Here are a few of her "Sand Dabs, Nine" thoughts:

All the eighth notes Mozart didn't have time to use before he entered the cloudburst, he gave to the wren.

Behind the glimmering cheerfulness of Bach there hangs a black thread.

You too can be carved by the details of your devotion.

If you are a Mary Oliver fan or haven't discovered her yet, I recommend this collection. It will make you fall in love with her writing, all over again or for the first time. My rating: 5 stars.

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Goldenrod: Poems by Maggie Smith (2021)

Several years ago I read the poem "Good Bones" by Maggie Smith. I think I discovered it long after most people did when it came out in 2016. The poem, or the fame that came with the poem, led to big changes in Maggie Smith's life, including a divorce from her husband. In subsequent books  she writes about those experiences. In this small collection, Goldenrod, I caught glimpses of trauma of the divorce in a few poems but generally I'd say the poetry speaks to the moments she is living now with her children and her new life. Oddly, I often find myself worrying about poets as I try to read between the lines to figure out what is going on. I'd guess, based on these poems, Maggie Smith has landed on her feet. 

Maggie Smith's poems are easy to read and very straight forward. One doesn't have to guess what she is referring to, at least not on the surface. In her poem, "December 18, 2008", she expresses a thought I've never even considered before. Clearly, in this poem she is referring to the birth of a child (one of her children?)

For just a fraction of a moment

that afternoon, if we think of time

as being a while, you were the newest

person in the world. You were

the emptiest vessel on earth, 

knowing nothing of this place

or of yourself ---

This poem danced out for my eyes since one of my children was also born on Dec. 18th. In another poem "Not Everything Is a Poem" Smith muses about what she finds in her son's pocket.

Not everything is a poem

or has a poem inside it, but god help me

if I can't find one when I empty

my son's pockets before I do

the wash: one acorn, two rocks

(one smooth and gray, one rough

and glittering, flecked pink), 

a chunk of mulch, a wilted

dandelion. The poem is there...

This collection makes me smile. My rating: 4 stars.

-Anne

Review: WHY FATHERS CRY AT NIGHT

Title: Why Fathers Cry at Night by Kwame Alexander

Book Beginning/First Line Friday Quote:

I was two. It was my birthday. She gave me wooden blocks in all shapes.

Friday56 quote:

"Portrait of a New Lover: Genesis"

five minutes after

she reads his note

her smile explodes.

She wonders if he is the one

Summary: Kwame Alexander is a poet and children's author. This book is his memoir. In telling his story Alexander uses love poems, letters, recipes, and remembrances. 

Review: I guess you could call me a Kwame Alexander fan. I've read ten of his books, starting with his Newbery Medal prize winning book, The Crossover. Of that book I wrote: "Best YA book I've read all year and, added benefit, it only took a little over an hour to read. The concrete poems were my favorites." The book, a novel in verse, introduced me to this fine poet and I've been firmly in his camp ever since.

Why Fathers Cry at Night is not a typical memoir. For one thing it is stuffed full of love poems written for girl friends who became his wives. (He's divorced.) Reading these poems felt a little voyeuristic for some reason. If I was reading the same information in prose, would I feel the same way? Hmm, not sure. In the book Alexander grapples with how to relate to his daughters now that he is estranged from their mothers and is still dealing with his grief over the death of his mother, six year after she passed.

Initially I wasn't very impressed by the format perhaps because he was sharing poems he'd written early on in his career and they weren't as good as his later stuff, or maybe it  just took me a while to accept the amount of information he was willing to share and settle for that. Later I was fully invested in the author's story and the format of the memoir. I am even tempted to try his mother's fried chicken recipe. I enjoyed reading how food and music were all tangled up in his memories. Aren't they tangled up in all of our lives?

My rating: 4.5 stars.

_______________________________________________

-Anne

Sunday Salon --- Ready, Set, Go!

We've had a rainy spring so far but the street trees are ever faithful in their announcement of the season.

Hawaii-bound!  By the time most folks on the West Coast wake up, our whole immediate family will be aboard a Hawaiian Airlines jet winging our way toward Hawaii. It is spring break for our daughter, a middle grade teacher, and for her children so we planned this special trip around their time off. Our first stop will be the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park on the big island. There was a big volcanic eruption just a few weeks ago so we certainly hope we can see some hot lava with our own eyes. We'll explore that part of the island for two days, then head to Kona and the beach for the remainder of trip. We bought our grandsons snorkels and masks for Christmas and everyone is hoping they get a chance to use them to see fish underwater. My next post will undoubtedly be full of photos. Aloha!

Kīlauea volcano, March 10, 2026. (Photo credit: USGS)

Weather on the Volcanoes (According to the the National Park Service): 

The weather at the summit of Kīlauea volcano (~4000' elevation) varies daily and may be rainy and chilly any time of the year. Temperature varies by elevation. At the summit of the volcano, temperatures may be 12 to 15 degrees cooler than at sea level. (Monday is supposed to get to 60°F, no rain.)

The weather at the summit of Mauna Loa volcano (~13,680' elevation), winter temperatures and snow are a possibility during any season. There can be extreme hot conditions during the day, and below freezing temperatures at night. (We only plan to view this from afar!)

The "doomsday" letter: Even though we are all excited for our trip, it brought up a thought which I couldn't shake -- What if the plane goes down with all of us aboard? Who will know where to pick up the dog? Will anyone be able to figure out our accounts? With this thought I forced my husband to write a letter to send to my sister and his brother giving them a few details about where to find everything (including the dog) and where to start. It is such a gruesome thought. But now it is done and we can go on our flights knowing all will be well.

 

April is National Poetry Month. Here is what I've been reading (and plan to read while I'm in Hawai'i):

--Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver. 

     This new collection will travel with me to the 50th State. The book contains more essays than I realized so I may or may not make much progress during the trip.

--Startlement by Ada Limón. Read my review here.

--Poems and Prayers by Matthew McConaughey. 

     I'm always a little hesitant to read books by actors, thinking they are just trying to cash in on their success. Poems and Prayers by Matthew McConaughey seems to be an exception to that rule and comes from a very sincere space. McConaughey is clearly a man of faith and works on his relationship with God. His poems show an evolution in his faith walk and his prayers all seem so real -- nothing pious or stilted. Throughout the book McConaughey makes notes about what was going on in his life when he wrote the various poems or prayers. Included throughout, and most of these were delightful, he adds little aphorisms or proverbs, short little statements that contain a general truth. I just opened the book to this one: "IT'S GOOD WHEN YOUR SUCCESS GOES TO YOUR HEAD. / AS LONG AS IT GOES TO YOUR HEART AS WELL." 

     Admittedly, I am not as impressed with the actor's poems compared to his prayers. Like everything in life, sometimes things suffer by comparison. I had just finished reading poetry collections by two masters of the craft -- Ada Limón and Victoria Chang -- before I started reading this book. I'm afraid their skills showed off McConaughey's deficits. But not enough to keep me from generally enjoying the book. Also, I gained some valuable insights.

     Here is a sample portion of one of his poems which is also a prayer:

GOOD REBEL

Goodness rebels bless us to be

more than obedient to Your law.

Even when consequences have no account

give us ear to hear your call...

Amen

--The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang. 

     This delightful collection is made up of poems composed in Japanese syllabic forms called wakas. Each poem is shaped by form and syllable count. The titles of the poems are repurposed from great poets, especially W.S. Merwin. These poems form the frames for the text. Chang described her process: "I selected a Merwin title as a prompt, then one syllabic form at random, and then wrote a poem. I would often read the Merwin poem first, but not always." I have to admit that this randomness made some of the poems seem like they came out of thin air, whereas others seemed to be fully planned.  

     Here are a few samples, with the form in parenthesis:  

 

THE SHIPWRECK  

I sit at my desk. 

Desire is an anchor --- 

I lift it and words come up.

(Form: Katauta, 5-7-7)

                                                                                                                                                            

THAT MUSIC

Once I fell in love

with the music, not the man.

When the music played,

my heart moved like paper boats.

When it stopped, I was eighty.

(Form: Tanka, 5-7-5-7-7)

    If you are looking for a lighter poetry collection and don't know where to start, I recommend you look for something by Victoria Chang. This oddly shaped book is so inviting and easy to read.

Books I'm packing. Will there even be time to read?

• Theo the Golden by Allen Levi. This is a book club selection. The audiobook is 13 1/2 hours long. If I listen on the plane the whole way there and back I will get close to finishing it. 
• I'm Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy. I hadn't really planned to read this one, I wanted to listen to it but the e-book came in from the library, so I'll give it a go.
• The Tomb Guardians by Paul Griffin. Sunday is Easter. I understand this book is a meditation on the crucifiction. It is short and illustrated.
• Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver. My homage to Poetry Month.
• And a big book to take to the pool/beach: either Seven Sisters or Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay. Both are over 400 pages. Gulp. What am I thinking that I'll go to Hawai'i and spend the whole time reading? But what if I do? I can't be caught without something to read. P.S.-I changed my mind. I will NOT take a big book with me. Four books seems like plenty, probably over-the-top!

A Little Easter Humor:

Holy Bunny?!
I've been laughing about this all week.
Happy Easter!

Aloha!

-Anne

Poetry review: STARTLEMENT

Happy National Poetry Month (April)

Title: Startlement: New and Selected Poems by Ada Limón

Book Beginnings/First Line Friday:

Poem: "FIRST LUNCH WITH RELATIVE STRANGER MISTER YOU"

We solved the problem of the wind

                                                with an orange.

Friday56:

Poem: "FLOOD COMING"

The pulled-apart world scatters

its news like a brush fire,

the ink bleeds out the day's undoing

and here we are again: alive.

Summary: Limón's ability to touch readers of all ages had made her a favorite among readers. This collection debuts new poems and includes selections from six previously published collections. "Limón's poetry bears witness to the arc of all we think we know with patient lyricism and and humble wonder." (Publisher)

Review: Ada Limón is the 24th Poet Laureate of the United States with good cause. Her poetry is just plain exquisite. I have read several of her collections before but all these poems seemed new and fresh to me. As I was preparing my mind for this review I thought to myself that not one single poem spoke to me louder than the others but the collective whole was very satisfying. I also realized I didn't know if "startlement" was even a word. I've certainly never heard it used in conversation. So I looked it up. 

Startlement (noun)-- as in astonishment; the state of being strongly impressed by something unusual or surprising. Ah! Perfect. That completely describes my experience with this collection of poems -- being impressed by something surprising. It is the rare poetry collection that makes me feel that astonishment and wonder throughout.

This month, April, I am celebrating poetry and hope you feel compelled to do the same. All poetry is not equal and does not appeal to everyone, but this collection gets pretty close to being nearly perfect. For comparison, after completing Startlement I started a poetry collection by a famous actor. My first thought on those poems was, "oh man, Ada Limón he's not." Ha! Choose something you like, or think you'll like and dive in. See if it catches you up in a moment of sheer startlement.

"STARTLEMENT"

It is a forgotten pleasure, the pleasure 

          of the unexpected blue-bellied lizard....

The world says, One type of dream has ended

          and another has just begun.

The world says, Once we were separate,

          and now we must move in unison.

_______________________________________________

-Anne

Getting ready: National Poetry Month

National Poetry Month, April, is nearly here. For some reason this event, which I am determined to celebrate each year, always seems to sneak up on me. But not this year. This year I am getting ready for it early.

Yesterday I found this list of the best 48 adult poetry books of the last five years. I took the little quiz and discovered I have already read 12 of them, which puts me in the top 97% of people who filled out the quiz. What does that say about me? What does that say about everyone else? 97%, ridiculous. From the list I found five books I want to read because I've already read something by this poet/author and I've placed these titles on hold at the library:

• And Yet by Kate Baer
• Pilgrim Bell: Poems by Kaveh Akbar
• The Trees Witness Everything by Victoria Chang
• Woman Without Shame by Sandra Cisneros
• Goldenrod by Maggie Smith

Hopefully they will all arrive by April 1st. But in case they don't, I purchased a copy of a new collection of poems by Mary Oliver. This will keep me busy for a few days, I hope. 

• Little Alleluias by Mary Oliver.

On a recent trip to the library and found two poetry collections which looked good, and I currently have them checked out but I may finish them before April (hopefully):

• Poems and Prayers by Matthew McConaughey
• Startlement: Poems by Ada Limón

Thinking about favorite poets made me realize I still want to read the memoir of a poet by Kwame Alexander, who generally writes for children and young adults. I placed a hold on this book, too, to find out more.

• Why Fathers Cry at Night: a Memoir in Love Poems, Letters, Recipes, and Remembrances by Kwame Alexander.

It is unlikely I will actually finish all nine of these books but I will have lots of fun trying.

Join me in reading some poetry in April. Here is a link to more about National Poetry Month. It offers many resources. Like this poster, which you can get for free if you are a teacher:

-Anne

Poetry review: I DO KNOW SOME THINGS

I Do Know Some Things by Richard Siken is a nominated poetry book for the 2025 National Book Awards. Every year I attempt to read a minimum of the nominated books before the award is announced in November. This year I selected this poetry book by Siken because of the committee's description:

Richard Siken writes his way through the aftermath of a stroke—recovering language, memories, and his sense of self in the process. Through 77 autobiographical prose poems, I Do Know Some Things accepts the limitations of memory and the potential liberation of unreliable narration in rewriting one’s own story (NBA).

Doesn't that sound interesting? I thought so. From the very first prose poem I knew I was in for something unique, too. The thing about prose poems is they often just seem like writing. Where is the poetry, I wondered? In fact at one point I even wondered how the NBA committee selected this as poetry and then I stumbled into "Several Tremendous" which begins with:

---angel of crowning and angel of breaching, angel of leavening, angel of grieving, angel of elbow, angel of bright, angel ot terrible, monster of terrible; music and terrible, a big small music and several terrible tremendous; ... (22).

Ah. I finally recognize the poetry. But honestly I didn't keep reading for the poems, I kept reading for the story. It is the story of Richard Siken's life both before and after the stroke and his childhood trauma, which was still traumatic. His troubles getting help during his stroke and care afterwards. His struggle with language and with his memory. Imagine losing your memory for words and as you regain the meanings behind words, you also regain the memories of your unhappy childhood. How awful.

I've said this before on my blog: I am not a very sophisticated poetry reader. I am used to reading fiction and narrative nonfiction. When I read poetry I always find myself reading the poems as if they are true and I always want to know more about the story the poem is telling. But often the story details are hidden behind metaphors and other literary devices. In I Do Know SomeThings all of that is gone and and the reader comes face to face with the poet himself.  In an interview with the Adroit Journal, Siken says this:

My new book is seventy-seven prose poems. Each page is a small box that tries to hold the content. I also lost my guile and poker face from the stroke. I couldn’t lie and I didn’t have a filter. The artifice was gone. I was saying things without metaphor, which was shocking and uncomfortable. I was speaking in the first-person, not making the reader complicit with the second-person or using the third-person to throw my voice. And most terrifying for me: the content was autobiographical. All of this forced me to lean on new craft strategies. I use associative leaps significantly now, to keep the poems moving and make interesting hinges. All the poems look the same. I needed strategies to make them sound different... I have a rhythm but the music—the lyric—isn’t there in the way it was before (Adroit Journal).

I know most of my readers will gloss over this review since poetry is not your usual genre and this poetry, prose poetry, is even more unusual. But I urge you to take a minute and reconsider. Prose poetry is reading prose and this poet writes with no artifice. It is like really a fascinating, if not heartbreaking, memoir.  I commend the NBA committee for nominating it for their award in poetry and I honestly hope it wins.

My rating: 4.25 stars.

-Anne

Poetry Review: WATER, WATER: POEMS

Count me a Billy Collins fan. He is one of only a handful of poets I've heard read his own poetry in person and the only one I paid money to see. Water, Water is the eighth book of his poetry I've read, making Collins right up there with Mary Oliver as my most-read poets, and this may be my favorite collection of his so far.

What is it I like so much about Collins' poems? Well, for one thing many of them are funny and most of them are relatable. For example, in the poem "Cardinal" the poet is soaking in the swimming pool when a Vatican-red cardinal lands just a few feet away, at his eye level. A rustling in the tree nearby reveals the cardinal's less-colored mate. The poet, at that moment decides to keep this moment to himself. He won't share it with his wife. He will take this memory to his grave alone. But minutes later, his wife arrives outside with coffee and they talk about ordinary things. She tells him her plans and he tells her about the cardinals -- "making sure not to leave anythings out -- / including my idea about keeping it a secret / and that really dumb thing about the grave." This poem makes me smile to even think of it. It is so typical in a marriage to share mundane things with one's spouse. "Little things don't mean much / until I report back from the front." I realized after reading "Cardinal" this is what my husband and I both do with our adult daughter, too. She is single and our house is between her home and and her job, so she often drops by our house for a meal or to play games with us. We find we tell her all the little details of our lives, even "that really dumb thing about the grave." 

Collins, who is in his mid 80s right now, wrote several poems about his high school experiences and about the music he enjoyed then and now. The first line of the poem "Days of Teenage Glory" had me laughing out loud -- "When I was busy committing the crime of high school, / the songs on the radio / took about two minutes to play..." I've been thinking a lot about high school these days since this is the summer of both Don's and my 50-year high school class reunions. And thinking back to high school days does make one think back to all the horrible decisions one made as a teenager and how irrelevant much of what we were taught was. There is much I can relate to in his poems.

Collins does not only write funny poems, he has a great sense of humor about himself. For example in his poem "Autobiography" he talks about starting a project to write about his life but abandons it by lunch time -- "Plus I already could hear / the voices of the vicious reviewers / happy to dwell on my shortcomings -- // my love of personification / (my melancholic tricycle, for instance), ... / And they would be right / about the pages and pages of senseless dialogue, / not to mention the tedium of chronological order, / even though that seems to be the way / my life has chosen to unfold itself, at least so far." Oddly my life has unfolded chronologically, too. We have so much in common.😏

Let me recommend this collection to you. See if you, too, can find some poems which speak straight to your experiences!

-Anne

Three quick poetry book reviews -- Mary Oliver

I've hemmed and hawed long enough. Just say a kind word about the three poetry books by Mary Oliver, still in my possession from the library, and move on, Anne.

At one point a few years back, probably around the time that Mary Oliver died in 2019 at age 83, I added all of her poetry books, or at least the ones I hadn't read yet, to my TBR list. Many of the books weren't in my library system and when I would search for copies at used book sales, her volumes were never there. She's the most beloved poet in America, no wonder I could never find a used copy of anything by her -- everyone else wanted them, too.

This past April I decided to check to see if the neighboring library system in a nearby county had any of her books and they did. I'd already secured a library card so I could cross the line and check them out. I requested three volumes and they arrived late in April. Time ran out in the month before I got to all three of them. But now that I am finished I wonder how to adequately review them.

The three volumes are:

• Owls and Other Fantasies: Poems and Essays. (Beacon Press, 2003)
• White Pine: Poems and Prose Poems. (Harcourt Brace and Company, 1994)
• Thirst: Poems. (Beacon Press, 2006)

In a lot of ways, if you have read any Mary Oliver poems, you know of her focus on nature, living things-- both wild and tame-- and God. Each of these three volumes revealed an aspect of her writing. 

In White Pine I felt a deep sadness in many of her poems. As you may know Mary Oliver had a dreadful childhood where she was sexually abused. She found solace in nature and spending time out of doors. Many of the poems in this volume felt like she was trying to find the salve in nature to heal the wounds from her past. Sometimes she succeeded, I think, as in this poem "At the Lake" where she is reflecting on the life of a fish and then these lines show a shift to self--

 At the Lake

... 

This is, I think,

what holiness is;

the natural world,

where every moment is full

of the passion to keep moving.

Inside every mind

there's a hermit's cave

full of light,

full of snow,

full of concentration.

I've knelt there,

and so have you,

hanging on 

to what you love,

to what is lovely.

Words one can return to again and again to remind oneself that everything will be okay. Usually Mary Oliver's poems start on some point of nature -- a tree, a bird in the pond, a toad beside the road -- but then a shift will occur and now the focus will be on the human condition, on humankind. That is why I want to keep reading, not to learn about toads, but to gain insights into myself.

Almost all of the poems and essays in the next collection, Owls and Other Fantasies. ar about, um..the obvious, birds. Even as I creaked open this volume I asked myself if I really cared enough to read a whole book full of bird poems. It was as if I hadn't read any of her other poems before to even entertain such thoughts.  The very first poem in the collection, "Wild Geese" brought me back from my negativity--

Wild Geese

You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

     love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on...

What? I was expecting geese and it opened with me and you and everyone. Geese didn't even enter the poem until the 12th line. Surprise! Not an animal poem after all.

In 2006 Mary Oliver published Thirst. It was the first poetry collection she published since the death of her life partner, Mary Malone Cook, who died in 2005. Clearly Oliver was in the throes of deep grief. Thirst is also the most spiritual of the poetry collections I've read of hers up to this point. 

Here in the poem, "The Winter Wood Arrives" the poet talks about stacking wood for winter, but underneath that task is this--

The Winter Wood Arrives

...

             How to keep warm

is always the problem,

     isn't it?

         Of course, there's love.

              And there's prayer.

I don't belittle them,

     and they have warmed me,

         but differently,

              from the heart outwards.

Imagine

     what swirls of frost will cling

         to the windows, what white lawns

              I will look out on

as I rise from morning prayers,

     as I remember love, that leaves yet never leaves...

Heartbreaking yet comforting. It is hard to read a Mary Oliver poem and not feel the tug from each direction. Try reading the poem "After Her Death" without crying, I dare you. You'll see what I mean. In it she finds comfort from small birds who are content after eating small fish. "They open their wings / so easily, and fly. So. It is still / possible."

In the deepest of grief, when it doesn't seem possible, when we find nature shows us how to go on... just spread your wings out and fly. It is possible to go on.

I hope these short reviews have encouraged you to seek out a volume of Mary Oliver's poem today!

-Anne

Poetry Review: 44 POEMS ON BEING WITH EACH OTHER + My National Poetry Month 2025 Wrap-Up

Today marks the last day of April and the last day of National Poetry Month for another year. I read eleven books and found some delightful new-to-me poems and poets.

I reviewed almost all the books with the exception of 44 Poems on Being With Each Other, which I finished last night, and With My Back to the World by Chang, which I inadvertently missed. See the 44 Poems review below on this page.

Reviews: 

• Make Me Rain: Poems and Prose by Nikki Giovanni. 2020. My rating- 4.25 stars.
• The Wonder of Small Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal edited by James Crews. 2023. 4.5 stars
• 44 Poems on Being With Each Other by Padraig O Tuama. 2025. 5 stars. See review below.
• Black Girl You Are Atlas by Renee Watson. 2024. 5 stars.
• For Every One by Jason Reynolds. 2018. 5 stars.
• With My Back to the World: Poems by Victoria Chang. 2024. 4 stars.
• How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope edited by James Crews. 2021. 5 stars.
• What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer. 2020. 4.25 stars.
• Grace Notes: Poems About Families by Naomi Shihab Nye. 2024. 5 stars.
• A Year of Last Things by Michael Ondaatje. 2024. 3 stars.
• Time is a Mother by Ocean Vuong. 2022. 2.5 stars

Other posts about poetry:

• TTT: Favorite Poetry Books Reviewed in the Past Two Years (not inclusive of those in the above list)
• TTT: Excerpts of New-to-Me Poems and a few other thoughts/reflections on poetry.

A few more new-to-me poems and poets I discovered this month. Links to the Poetry Foundation.

• Poems:
• "Waiting for the Barbarians" by C.F. Cavafy
• "A Word on Statistics" by Wislawa Szymborska
• "Conflict Resolution for Holy Beings, Pt. 1" by Joy Harjo
• "At the Student Poetry Reading" by Kim Stafford
• Poets:
• Dorianne Laux
• Nikki Giovanni

Review: 44 Poems on Being With Each Other by Pádraig Ó Tuama.

Years ago I discovered Roger Housden's 'Ten Poems' series. In these small books, Housden highlighted ten poems only but for each his commentary opened up the poems for me. After reading Ten Poems to Change Your Life I went on a ten-poems reading frenzy, seeking out all the volumes in the set, like my life depended on it. For the first time in my life I was holding the keys in my hand of how to read poetry. A few years later I found two volumes of poetry curated by Edward Hirsch, The Heart of American Poetry and 100 Poems to Break Your Heart.  Hirsch added commentary to each poem which helped me understand and appreciate them. In addition, I was introduced to a plethora of poets and their works, another bonus. Pádraig Ó Tuama did the same thing here with 44 Poems On Being With Each Other as Housden and Hirsch did -- selecting a few poems to highlight with added insightful commentary or an enriching meditation.

Using just one poem as an example, I'll show you the pattern for each of the 44 poems.

Pádraig Ó Tuama begins each poem with a small personal note about himself. For this poem his note is about his unhappy childhood and how it is hard to break out of the flawed pattern of thinking when things go wrong he is to blame. "What helps?" he asks. "Many thing: friends, humour, learning, support. What also helps? The daring act of making: a poem, a change, a surprising sound of a new language where old language fails. Discovering a poem." His personal note always relates to the upcoming poem.

"How the Dung Beetle Finds Its Way Home" by Eugenia Leigh begins with a description of a dung beetle rolling his ball of shit home, navigating by "the Milky Way's glinting ribbon." It goes on to explain how even a little shade from a hat can confuse the little guy so he cannot get home. At this point I'm wondering if this is a nature poem about dung beetles and if I really care. In the next stanza there is a swerve, however, when suddenly I begin to wonder if the poet is talking about their own life. "See? I want to tell my missing father, it's a metaphor so simple // it's almost not worth writing down: even beetles need the stars / to nudge them back to where they need to be / when they need to be there.." Hmm. This is definitely not about beetles, but about parents and, as we learn in the next stanza, bad parents. Children of bad parents often worry that they, too, will become bad parents. The poet does just that, abandoning her family for a very short time -- "I sat on the stairwell leading up to the roof and wept / until a large bug threatened my life, at which point I recalled / the dung beetles, stopped blaming my parents, and - / thinking of metaphorical stars - I rolled up my pile of shit / and trudged back home."

This poem delighted me on many levels probably all related to saying "shit" and not getting in trouble for it. Ó Tuama began his commentary with this laugh-out-loud sentence, "I've spent more time learning about shit-rolling insects than I ever thought I would." One should be able to read a poem without too much research, but in this case, it did seem like a big temptation.

Apparently Ó Tuama also did some research about or just knows the poet. Looking across her work, Leigh details aspects of her mother's abusive behavior and her own PTSD around that. She also lives with bipolar disorder which sometimes leads to manic episodes. One wouldn't usually know any of this, but Ó Tuama brings that insight with his commentary and then adds this about the poem, "The humour, the delight, the natural wonder of the beetle who can navigate its way home is the plain telling of a truth addressed to own parents: don't treat your children like shit; if even a beetle can provide for its family, so can you." Honestly folks, I am a bet thick. I needed Ó Tuama's help to fully understand this.

The rest of the commentary, two more pages, reads a little like a counseling session where Ó Tuama is psychologist. He identifies the poet's relationship with friends who want to know where she went when she abandoned her family. Ó Tuama says, "I'm moved by the storytelling and the friendships, the exchanges of humour and confession that underpin the health of the poem and the poet's constellation of community." Using the Milky Way himself to make his point. :)

This was just one poem, multiply it by 44 and you have this complete, wonderful volume of poems! All of the poems were selected because they, in some regard, have to do with human connections. It is a timely publication since so many people are living more and more isolated lives these days. Poetry to the rescue.

Pádraig Ó Tuama is a poet, writer, theologian and conflict resolution mediator. He is a teacher and a former leader of the Corrymeela Community in Northern Ireland, a peace and reconciliation organization. He also hosts a Poetry Unbound podcast. He is known for his engaging style of teaching and mentoring, using poetry as a tool for understanding the human condition and promoting reconciliation. His resume makes him perfectly suited to add commentary and bring a depth of understanding to poems.

My rating: 5 stars.

-Anne

Poetry Review: MAKE ME RAIN

Make Me Rain: Poetry and Prose is the first adult poetry book I've read by the renowned poet, Nikki Giovanni and the last poetry book she published before her death in 2024. And I must admit I feel rather sheepish admitting that I've only just discovered this poet since she has been famous, in a way most poets aren't, for a long time.

Make Me Rain was published in 2020 and I'm not sure if some of the poems were in response to the Black Lives Matter  movement that year or just a reaction to injustice in general. The poem "And So It Comes to This" starts: Painful words / Nasty comments /Always in groups / Never Just by yourself / Teaching your sons to hate / And your daughters to fear ... and concludes: The only thing you have to offer / Anything.. yourself...Planet Earth / Anything at all. / Is / Your white skin // How sad. How sad. Clearly Giovanni is burning with righteous anger. Poetry provides a perfect medium for the expression of this anger.

The whole collection didn't simmer over with anger or disgust, however. Many of the poems were lighthearted and about everyday events. Others take a poke at politics/politicians. In "Rainy Days" the poet says she called for sun with no luck, ask a friend to do the same but the sun didn't answer, so I opened a bottle of Champagne / and the fruit flies / surrounded the top // Lord Lord // donald trump / must be president  Notice the lack of capital letters for his name or title. Quite in keeping with her feelings about no sun and fruit flies.

The poem "Biography" is short but sums up her life and what she hopes her life stood for -- I'm also lucky / to had awards and daydreams / or is that / Daydreams / And Awards / And I'm lucky to be happy / At what I do / And how I do it / So that is this / Bio / I'm here / And if I mist/ On emotional soil / A weed will / Grow // Make Me Rain // Let me be a part / of needed change

Giovanni self-published her first two volumes of poetry in 1968. During this time she became well-known in Black Arts Movement, influenced by the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1970s she also began writing Children's literature and started her own publishing company, NikTom, to provide publishing opportunities for women of color. Over the decades her works often discussed social issues and human relationships, even Hip-Hop. She won numerous awards, including the NAACP Image Award seven times, and was given 27 honorary degrees. She taught at several universities, ending her teaching career at Virginia Tech in 2022. She even has a bat,Micronycteris giovanniae named for her. She died in 2024 after a lengthy battle with lung cancer. She was 81 years old. I'd say, looking back at her poem "Biography" she indeed played a part in changing America, perhaps the world, for the better. 

I understand that a volume of Giovanni poetry, titled The New Book: Poems, Letter, Blurbs, and Things, will be published posthumously in September this year. I will be the first in line at the library to check out a copy of it.

-Anne

Short Poetry Reviews: BLACK GIRL YOU ARE ATLAS and FOR EVERYONE

Black Girl You are Atlas by Renée Watson

In this semi-autobiographical collection of poems, poet Renée Watson writes about what it is like growing up as a Black girl. "Using a variety of poetic forms, from haiku to free verse, Watson shares recollections of her childhood in Portland, Oregon, tender odes to the Black women in her life, and urgent calls for Black girls to step into their power."

When I saw this poetry book by Watson I felt sure I had read other YA books by her but looking over her list of published works, I recognize some of the titles but never actually read any. I thoroughly enjoyed this small collection, perfect for middle and high school libraries. The poetry is completely accessible. I especially like the variety of poetic forms used. The poems are described as semi-autobiographical, I would have thought it was a memoir-in-verse, at least the first section was. In the next section Watson wrote poems about Black women, some who lost their lives to racism. "A Pantorum for Breonna Taylor" and "A Tanka for Michelle Obama" are two examples. 

Look for this collection at your public library, encourage your librarian to buy it if your school or public library doesn't have a copy.

Random House, 2024.

For Every One: a Poem. A Nod. A Nothing to Lose. by Jason Reynolds

Back before the YA novels The Boy in the Black Suit, The All-American Boys, and Long Way Down, Jason Reynolds was just a struggling writer/artist dreaming about his future. Early in his life he dreamt he would have made his first million before age 30. Here he was 28, so broke he had to move back in with his mother. This book began as a letter to himself as a way to clinging tight to the nugget of "thin air I referred to as my dream." It isn't really a poem or a letter in the strictest definitions. More a pep talk. A pep talk that all people who have a dream deferred need to read. Reynolds said he worked on this "letter" for years, finally publishing it as a way to help others. The title is perfect: For Everyone. We all need pep talks from time to time.

As I was looking around for an online version of the poem, I found this video of Jason Reynolds performing it.What powerful stuff. Set aside a bit of time to watch it or at least a portion of it. 

Caitlyn Dhouy Books, 2018.

I rated both books with 5 stars.

-Anne

Poetry reviews: HOW TO LOVE THE WORLD and THE WONDER OF SMALL THINGS

Last October my husband and I made a trip across the country to vacation in Boston and several towns in Maine.  Wherever we were we tried to visit independent bookstores. I've made it a 'policy' to purchase something every time I enter these little shops. It's my way of helping them stay in business. While in Boston we visited the darling, and quite famous, Beacon Hill Bookstore. I could live inside that place quite happily, I think. I purchased my first James Crew poetry anthology, How to Love the World: Poems of Gratitude and Hope, there.

One whole floor of the Beacon Hill Bookstore is dedicated and sized for children

In his introduction, titled "The Necessity of Joy", James Crews says,

For many years, reading and writing poetry has been my personal source of delight, an antidote from the depression that can spring up out of nowhere. I now carve out what I call 'soul time' for myself each day, making space for silence and reflection... We need poems like the ones gathered here to ground us in our lives, to find in each new moment what Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer describes as, 'the chance for joy, whole orchards of amazement.'

I love that -- so much joy it is like "whole orchards of amazement." Don't you?

In addition to the collection of poems which lead us toward joy, hope, wonder, and gratitude, Crews asks the reader to pause several times during the reading to reflect on one poem longer than the others by providing reflective pauses. He also gives a suggested prompt for writing practices based upon the poems if one wants to pause a little longer. I find these reflective prompts very helpful in pulling out deeper meaning from the highlighted poem. This enhances my whole poetry reading experience. there are seven or eight of these reflective pauses in each volume.

A Reflective Pause and Invitation for Writing and Reflection page in response to the poem "Thankful for Now" by Todd Davis.

In addition to the poems and the reflections Crews does something I've never seen in a poetry anthology before. At the end of the book he highlights ten poems with book club discussion questions for them. I love this! It makes me want to try this in my book club. I've never even considered reading poetry for our monthly selection, but why not? I think it would be fun to dig in a little deeper into these ten poems and discuss our thoughts and insights. An example question from the Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer poem, "How It Might Continue": 

• What does Trommer mean when she suggests that we can go around with "our pockets full of exclamation marks"? Do you know someone like this, who carries the seed of delight with them wherever they go, giving them freely?

I'd love to talk to my friends about what it is like to be around someone who has a pocket full of exclamation marks! How much fun would that be to pause and reflect on such things?

Reading Group Questions and Topics for Discussion, highlighting ten poems

I haven't read the second book in this anthology series, The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy, but I've added it to my TBR.

The third book, The Small Wonder of Things: Poems of Peace and Renewal, was also a delight to read, though if I was rating the them, I liked the first book a bit better. In the forward of this book, Nikita Gill tells a story about a conversation she had with her grandmother when she was very young. Her grandmother said, "where there is wonder, there also lives poetry." They were picking strawberries at the time. Picking one and lifting it up, she said, "To a poet, even a little strawberry like this is a poem." This collection focuses on those small, ordinary gems-- like ripe berries, or carrots pulled from the ground -- which remind us of the many miracles in our lives.

I'll leave you with two poems, one from each volume, and hope they entice you to read on.

"Field Guide" by Tony Hoagland in The Wonder of Small Things.

Once, in the cool blue middle of a lake,
up to my neck in that most precious element of all,

I found a pale-gray, curled-upwards pigeon feather
floating on the tension of the water

at the very instant when a dragonfly,
like a blue-green iridescent bobby pin,

hovered over it, then lit, and rested.
That’s all.

I mention this in the same way
that I fold the corner of a page

in certain library books,
so that the next reader will know

where to look for the good parts.

"Hope" by Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer in How to Love the World

Hope has holes

in its pockets.
It leaves little
crumb trails
so that we,
when anxious,
can follow it.
Hope’s secret:
it doesn’t know
the destination–
it knows only
that all roads
begin with one
foot in front
of the other.

Happy National Poetry Month! I hope this post has brought you joy and a sense of wonder.

-Anne