Selected Poems: 1965-1990

Rating:
Summary: Hacker is True to Form
Review: For anyone who believes in the true "craft" of poetry, Marilyn Hacker is a breath of fresh air. Far to the opposite of the spectrum of purely narrative poetry, Hacker's work -- throughout her career -- has demonstrated the true skill a poet can achieve through meter and rhyme.

Selected Poems 1965-1990 spans five of Hacker's previous collections, including Presentation Piece, Hacker's first collection, which was widely-acclaimed and got her some well-deserved notice in the literary world.

Hacker's poems are extraordinarily structured, typically following the sestina or villanelle form, usually rhymed, sometimes tossing in a Pantoum or two.

But Hacker's poems should not be read focusing on the form; rhymes should not distract you from the actual subject matter of the poem. Hacker's works are best read with the natural pauses and inflections that narrative lines receive. Don't let the form distract you. In this aspect, Hacker has truly demonstrated the enormous skill of putting together fantastic contemporary poems within the confines of a rigid classic structure.

The subject matter Hacker covers in her poems is noteworthy. Hacker writes terribly personal poems and is the first poet I've read who can accurately yet compassionately address the heart-wrenching task of caring for someone (for Hacker, it's her mother) with diabetes.

Hacker's deeply emotional poems center around the important relationships in her life: her mother, her (ex)husband, her daughter, her lovers. Hacker writes about her male and female lovers with equal passion, but her devotion to her daughter is what really shines through in a great many of her poems.

As is the problem with rhymed or formal poetry, the true skill comes in making the form invisible. It is difficult to write lines where the rhymed words don't seem forced into place, or where you have to scramble the natural sentence structure to make it "fit." Some of these tricks are apparent in the selections from Hacker's earlier books, but those tricks are not readily apparent in her later works. Hacker's earlier works also have a tendency to reach into non sequitur to fit the rhymes and form.

Overall, I admire this collection for its showcasing of Hacker's passion and skill. It has a great deal of depth and emotion, all while exhibiting the potential of the poetic form in the hands of a fantastic poet.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Deserving of its National Book Award
Review: Hacker is a master of the sonnet, sestina, and villanelle. I'm always amazed when I arrive at the end of one of her poems and discover that elegant and natural words are arranged in one of these structured ways. Her words and images pull you into the poems and into Hacker's mind. Elegant. Beautiful.

Rating:
Summary: Truly Deserving of its National Book Award
Review: Hacker is a master of the sonnet, sestina, and villanelle. I'm always amazed when I arrive at the end of one of her poems and discover that elegant and natural words are arranged in one of these structured ways. Her words and images pull you into the poems and into Hacker's mind. Elegant. Beautiful.