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sageyywageyy's review against another edition
reflective
2.5
Poems I liked: Parados, A Fantasy, A Fable, Yellow Dahlia, Mirror Image & First Memory.
thetouchtonetuner's review against another edition
5.0
Look if you write a poem about your dad it'll make me tear up I don't make the rules
scrapespaghetti's review against another edition
FIRST MEMORY
Long ago, I was wounded. I lived
to revenge myself
against my father, not
for what he was—
for what I was: from the beginning of time,
in childhood, I thought
that pain meant
I was not loved.
It meant I loved.
Long ago, I was wounded. I lived
to revenge myself
against my father, not
for what he was—
for what I was: from the beginning of time,
in childhood, I thought
that pain meant
I was not loved.
It meant I loved.
yongxiang's review against another edition
5.0
writing book reviews to escape KI #2.
firstly, i want to say that i read a copy of this book signed by Ms Glück herself, courtesy of Dr He, which is very cool.
secondly, my friend Amanda said that Louise Glück's language is simple but her concepts are ~profound~, and i agree.
the poem "Brown Circle" is a personal favourite:
My mother wants to know
why, if I hate
family so much,
I went ahead and
had one. I don’t
answer my mother.
What I hated
was being a child,
having no choice about
what people I loved.
I don’t love my son
the way I meant to love him.
I thought I’d be
the lover of orchids who finds
red trillium growing
in the pine shade, and doesn’t
touch it, doesn’t need
to possess it. What I am
is the scientist,
who comes to that flower
with a magnifying glass
and doesn’t leave, though
the sun burns a brown
circle of grass around
the flower. Which is
more or less the way
my mother loved me.
I must learn
to forgive my mother,
now that I am helpless
to spare my son.
our parents have a big impact on us, which sounds obvious but is very true. i liked how the "brown circle" links to the cyclical way the speaker, just like her mother, ends up hurting her child... generational trauma. and not just hurting her child, but leaving a noticeable mark which cannot easily be healed - the grass is burnt, her son can no longer be spared. even the forgiveness at the end is somewhat bittersweet: the speaker only begins to empathise with her mother because she too has made a mistake. this poem makes me want to be a good parent in the future
firstly, i want to say that i read a copy of this book signed by Ms Glück herself, courtesy of Dr He, which is very cool.
secondly, my friend Amanda said that Louise Glück's language is simple but her concepts are ~profound~, and i agree.
the poem "Brown Circle" is a personal favourite:
My mother wants to know
why, if I hate
family so much,
I went ahead and
had one. I don’t
answer my mother.
What I hated
was being a child,
having no choice about
what people I loved.
I don’t love my son
the way I meant to love him.
I thought I’d be
the lover of orchids who finds
red trillium growing
in the pine shade, and doesn’t
touch it, doesn’t need
to possess it. What I am
is the scientist,
who comes to that flower
with a magnifying glass
and doesn’t leave, though
the sun burns a brown
circle of grass around
the flower. Which is
more or less the way
my mother loved me.
I must learn
to forgive my mother,
now that I am helpless
to spare my son.
our parents have a big impact on us, which sounds obvious but is very true. i liked how the "brown circle" links to the cyclical way the speaker, just like her mother, ends up hurting her child... generational trauma. and not just hurting her child, but leaving a noticeable mark which cannot easily be healed - the grass is burnt, her son can no longer be spared. even the forgiveness at the end is somewhat bittersweet: the speaker only begins to empathise with her mother because she too has made a mistake. this poem makes me want to be a good parent in the future
jameswilbourn's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
3.5
No todos los poemas resonaron conmigo pero los que lo hicieron... Vaya bala al corazón. Tiene frases que te deja el alma encogida en un puño. No soy alguien muy dada a la poesía, pero me gustaría leer más de Louise Glück.
lisaelizabhet's review against another edition
4.0
Hay poemarios que me hacen sentir que estoy recibiendo revelaciones del Universo y están los de Louise que me caen como piedras heladas en la cabeza o que son una mano refregándome la cara en la tierra. Y no es malo. Estos poemas autobiográficos son bien al “hueso” aunque también hay ternura. Me gusta cómo describe la dinámica familiar y que no tema admitir las oscuridades de esta. No conecté con tantos poemas porque tengo que admitir que soy más cursi para mis cosas y ella no lo es, aunque eso no impidió que pudiera apreciar su gran talento.
“Mi madre quiere saber
por qué, si tanto odio
la familia,
fundé una y la saqué
adelante. No le contesto.
Lo que odiaba
era ser una niña,
no podía elegir
a quién amar”.
“Mi madre quiere saber
por qué, si tanto odio
la familia,
fundé una y la saqué
adelante. No le contesto.
Lo que odiaba
era ser una niña,
no podía elegir
a quién amar”.
casparb's review against another edition
Okay this is my 80th book for this month !! I just noticed on Friday that this was something I could do
We are hitting DETAIL o but I like this for Louise it exists in stillness perhaps that's just memory but in Ararat there's a collective listening/looking a held moment as held breath leaks from Vermeer.
I'm absolutely down with Paradise. I'm getting whiffs of Ovid here I think Louise alludes to Echo & Narcissus which is a beautIFUL conceit for a poetry collection I'd like that to be fully developed
Partly because she's just really good but I'm amazed by how relevant Catherine Malabou is all over the place even from just the short piece I read. Destructive plasticity as I said it's a concept that demands wider familiarity. Some of my favourite work from LG on mourning communities & materialism which if I'm responsible I'll come back to
don't be afraid that's how they paraphrase
the heartbeat of the mother.
So the living slowly grow calm; it's only
the dying who can't, who refuse.
We are hitting DETAIL o but I like this for Louise it exists in stillness perhaps that's just memory but in Ararat there's a collective listening/looking a held moment as held breath leaks from Vermeer.
I'm absolutely down with Paradise. I'm getting whiffs of Ovid here I think Louise alludes to Echo & Narcissus which is a beautIFUL conceit for a poetry collection I'd like that to be fully developed
Partly because she's just really good but I'm amazed by how relevant Catherine Malabou is all over the place even from just the short piece I read. Destructive plasticity as I said it's a concept that demands wider familiarity. Some of my favourite work from LG on mourning communities & materialism which if I'm responsible I'll come back to
don't be afraid that's how they paraphrase
the heartbeat of the mother.
So the living slowly grow calm; it's only
the dying who can't, who refuse.