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4.06 AVERAGE
4.06 AVERAGE
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
ruth stone writes with such beauty and conviction. her poetry remains always personal despite the emotional intensity of her subjects, and for that I think she's a very courageous writer and person. i found ruth stone through a poetry class i took a few semesters ago and from then on i have resonated with her story deeply. there is depth added because she's a local vermont writer and there's a sweetness for me in reading the fondness with which she describes vermont.
lovely little collection!
lovely little collection!
A bit pessimistic, sharp, heartbreaking, and definitely worth the read.
Ruth Stone's next galaxy is also the next room. You hear the universe move in her poems. And you also hear the old man next door rising from his bed, coughing.
I'd heard about Ruth Stone through Wom-Po, the Women's Poetry LISTSERV. Somewhere, maybe Facebook, I was sent a video of her reciting her poems from memory for nearly an hour. That was amazing, Ruth Stone is in her 90s and nearly blind, she can no longer read her work. The fact she memorized and read her work with such passion astounds me. So when I came across "In the Next Galaxy" at a second hand bookstore I bought it. It won The National Book Award.
In the middle of reading her book I attended a Writer's Craft talk that focused on contradiction to build tension. The poet who gave the talk provided lots of examples and it intrigued me. Picking up Ruth Stone's book after hearing this lecture I was amazed to find a plenora of contradictions though out her work.
Some examples:
In her poem "Wanting" it starts with the lines, "Wanting and dissatisfaction/are the main ingredients/of happiness." and at the end, "To violate beauty/is the essence of sexual desire./To procreate is the essence of decay."
In an amazing poem about her long term marriage, "Getting to Know You," she writes, "Miraculous dull day to day/breakfast and dinner." I love this poem.
In the title itself, "Sorrow and No Sorrow," she writes, "and what is not there/is always more than there."
In "Train Ride" she plays with the repeated stanza, "Do all things come to an end?/No, they go on forever.: She gives us rich lists of what ends and what goes on forever, proving her point.
In "Assumptions," the line, "The inner is really the outer."
Her language is full of science, fractals, parasites, and names of scientists I do not know, This is not a world I am easy in or understand, but I enjoyed reading this book and know there is much I can harvest from it if I dig deeper to study it. Not sure I'll do that, but it is an opening book by an amazing woman.
In the middle of reading her book I attended a Writer's Craft talk that focused on contradiction to build tension. The poet who gave the talk provided lots of examples and it intrigued me. Picking up Ruth Stone's book after hearing this lecture I was amazed to find a plenora of contradictions though out her work.
Some examples:
In her poem "Wanting" it starts with the lines, "Wanting and dissatisfaction/are the main ingredients/of happiness." and at the end, "To violate beauty/is the essence of sexual desire./To procreate is the essence of decay."
In an amazing poem about her long term marriage, "Getting to Know You," she writes, "Miraculous dull day to day/breakfast and dinner." I love this poem.
In the title itself, "Sorrow and No Sorrow," she writes, "and what is not there/is always more than there."
In "Train Ride" she plays with the repeated stanza, "Do all things come to an end?/No, they go on forever.: She gives us rich lists of what ends and what goes on forever, proving her point.
In "Assumptions," the line, "The inner is really the outer."
Her language is full of science, fractals, parasites, and names of scientists I do not know, This is not a world I am easy in or understand, but I enjoyed reading this book and know there is much I can harvest from it if I dig deeper to study it. Not sure I'll do that, but it is an opening book by an amazing woman.
My favorite from the volume:
Sorrow
Living alone the feet turn voluptuous,
cold as sea water, the thin brine
of the blood reaches them slowly;
their nubby heads rub one another.
How can you love them and yet
how live without them?
Their shoes lined up like caskets
in which they lie all day
dead from one another.
In the night
each foot has nothing to love
but the other foot.
Sorrow
Living alone the feet turn voluptuous,
cold as sea water, the thin brine
of the blood reaches them slowly;
their nubby heads rub one another.
How can you love them and yet
how live without them?
Their shoes lined up like caskets
in which they lie all day
dead from one another.
In the night
each foot has nothing to love
but the other foot.
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
fast-paced
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
A beautiful collection of poems by Stone. A highly recommended read for longtime lovers of poetry and those just dipping their toes in alike.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Suicide, Grief
Minor: Death, Suicide, Grief
My favorite from the volume:
Sorrow
Living alone the feet turn voluptuous,
cold as sea water, the thin brine
of the blood reaches them slowly;
their nubby heads rub one another.
How can you love them and yet
how live without them?
Their shoes lined up like caskets
in which they lie all day
dead from one another.
In the night
each foot has nothing to love
but the other foot.
Sorrow
Living alone the feet turn voluptuous,
cold as sea water, the thin brine
of the blood reaches them slowly;
their nubby heads rub one another.
How can you love them and yet
how live without them?
Their shoes lined up like caskets
in which they lie all day
dead from one another.
In the night
each foot has nothing to love
but the other foot.