Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poems

Rating:
Summary: A bright voice.
Review: Beautiful, lyrical, lingering poems. The kind that never hit you the same way twice. The kind you remember suddenly at odd moments. Think Sandra Cisneros, Adrienne Rich, Pablo Neruda. Jane Hirshfield is a little less punchy, a little more concrete, a little less heartstopping, respectively. Earthy and nostalgic. A lovely voice in her own right. [Mrs. Readwell's Recommendation: Read to savor.]

Rating:
Summary: Sixty-nine reasons to read poetry.
Review: I discovered Jane Hirshfield recently through a Pam Houston essay, "Redefining Success," in which the two discuss the meaning of success while walking along Muir Beach. The 69 poems in this new collection are short and simple on the surface, but deep with meaning. "Pyrocanthus berries redden in rain" (p. 6). "A hand turned upward holds only a single, transparent question./ Unanswerable, humming like bees, it rises, swarms, departs" (p. 9). "Each pebble in this world keeps/ its own counsel" (p. 14). A button "is its own story, completed" (p. 20). "Soup grows cold in the question" (p. 24). "A shopping mall swirls around the corpse of a beetle" (p. 55). Rocks "do not question silence,/ however long" (p. 64). Dogs sleep, "old ones especially" (p. 78). Hirshfield's poetry suggests that she is more fully present in the experience of living than the rest of us. Her observations are amazing.

As a poet, Hirshfield finds meaning in the mundane and habitual. "There are openings in our lives/ of which we know nothing" she writes in "The Envoy" (p. 3). In "Rebus," she writes: "As water given sugar sweetens, given salt grows salty,/ we become our choices" (p. 12). "As for the boulder,/ its meditations are slow but complete," she observes in "Rock" (p. 64).

Hirshfield's thin, brown book contains 69 reasons to read poetry. Whether she's walking on Muir beach with Pam Houston, or writing the poetry collected here, Hirshfield knows success.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Sixty-nine reasons to read poetry.
Review: I discovered Jane Hirshfield recently through a Pam Houston essay, "Redefining Success," in which the two discuss the meaning of success while walking along Muir Beach. The 69 poems in this new collection are short and simple on the surface, but deep with meaning. "Pyrocanthus berries redden in rain" (p. 6). "A hand turned upward holds only a single, transparent question./ Unanswerable, humming like bees, it rises, swarms, departs" (p. 9). "Each pebble in this world keeps/ its own counsel" (p. 14). A button "is its own story, completed" (p. 20). "Soup grows cold in the question" (p. 24). "A shopping mall swirls around the corpse of a beetle" (p. 55). Rocks "do not question silence,/ however long" (p. 64). Dogs sleep, "old ones especially" (p. 78). Hirshfield's poetry suggests that she is more fully present in the experience of living than the rest of us. Her observations are amazing.

As a poet, Hirshfield finds meaning in the mundane and habitual. "There are openings in our lives/ of which we know nothing" she writes in "The Envoy" (p. 3). In "Rebus," she writes: "As water given sugar sweetens, given salt grows salty,/ we become our choices" (p. 12). "As for the boulder,/ its meditations are slow but complete," she observes in "Rock" (p. 64).

Hirshfield's thin, brown book contains 69 reasons to read poetry. Whether she's walking on Muir beach with Pam Houston, or writing the poetry collected here, Hirshfield knows success.

G. Merritt

Rating:
Summary: Deeply touching collection of poetry by Jane Hirshfield
Review: I first discovered This book of poetry in a issue of O magazine or the Oprah magazine and curious as to what kind of poetry Oprah endorses, as this is the first book of poetry she has endorsed that I know of, I ordered a copy of it for myself from Amazon. It is a breathtaking collection of poems that are reminescent of one of my favorite poets Raineir Maria Rilke. I am copying one of her poems below to demonstrate what I mean: " Only when I am quiet and do not speak do the objects of my life draw near. Shy, the scissors and spoons, the blue mug. Hesitant even the towles, for all thier intimate knowledge and scent of bleach. How steady thier regard as they ponder , dreaming and waking, the entrancment of my daily wanderings and tasks. Drunk on the honey of feelings, the honey of purpose, they seem to be thinking, a quiet judgment that glistens between the glass doorknobs.

Yet thiers is not the false reserve of a scarcely concealed ill will, nor the other, active shying:of pelted rocks.

No, not that. For I hear the sigh of happiness each object gives off if I glimpse for even an instant the actual instant-

As if they believed it possible I might join thier circle of simple, passionate thusness, thier hidden rituals of luck and solitude, the joyous gap in them where appears in us the pronoun I." ( This is my favorite poem out of the book and to me it is so much like Rilke's poetry that speak of solitude and how things in our life need to be recognized need to be noticed in order for them to really be real to us. Rilke spoke of the tangible things in our lives and need for solitude etc just as Hirshfield does here so beautifully and movingly. These poems can really get you to comtemplate life and and are so touching and full of meaning and I recommend Given Sugar Given Salt to anyone who is also a Rilke fan and to anyone who would like to be moved by a poem andseeks deeper meaning in poetry. Though this volume of poetry is small in length it is big on thought and well worth the . . . money. . .. Poetry lovers get this book you will not be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Luminous, lovely
Review: Jane Hirshfield's poems are luminous and never fail to lift me from the damp of a meaningless day. She shines light on the most ordinary things -- a room, a button -- and gives them the sheen of the holy. I always use her books in poetry appreciation workshops, and can't wait for her next collection.

Rating:
Summary: Given Jane, this is breathtaking
Review: Jane Hirshfield's poetry is as beautifully breathtaking as she herself. Her poems are tender and everyday and accessible. They always manage to touch my heart. I only wish she would publish more, and more often.

Rating:
Summary: The ultimate self-love is self-abasement
Review: There is a certain pose in these poems, and it is quite effective as poses go, but Buddhism is not a pose, nor a cloak for anger, nor a disguise for preening, and these well-made poems have a hollow core as if the empty kettle had belched. Sorry. I had really wanted to like it.