Customer Reviews

Alive Together: New and Selected Poems

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4 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am amazed by her power. In her hands, words spring to life and life springs to words. Her mind plants the living experience in a kiss on the hand and flings it to her audience like affectionate royalty waving to an attentive crowd.

She was born in Hamburg, Germany and the "Curriculum Vitae" poem in this volume beautifully articulates her immigration to the United States and her life here. Mueller was recently awarded one of the largest prizes in literature, the 2002 Ruth Lilly Prize -- $100,000.00. Her poetry is worth that, and more.

Her Mother's death "hurt" her into poetry, she writes here, and yet the observations she gives through these poems are pure redemption. What she experiences is what we all know, and she offers it to us with reverence and respect in sparkling language of pure gold.

When she stumbles on the fact of aging: "One day," she writes, "on a crowded elevator, everyone's face was younger than mine. . . .The brilliant days and nights are breathless in their hurry."

I love everything she's written and eagerly wait for more.
One short poem just to treat you to an example of what poetry can be:

"EX MACHINA
"My word processor does not know Shakespeare.
It balks at ripeness, stops me at Othello
and Desdemona. They are not
in its vocabulary. On the other hand
it does not question arrogance and power,
accepts betrayal, jealousy and grief,
uncomprehending. They are on the list.

"I am reminded of the face
of the young killer on the screen
the other night. He knew the words
gun and crime and prison.
He even knew the word guilty,
but when he said it, his eyes were blank."

Buy this book -- and all her books if you can find them. Keep them nearby so you can reach into a poem when you need to be reminded what living is for.

Lisel Mueller is hands down one of the contemporary masters of the free verse form. In her second language she writes of exile, reclamation, home, beauty. She excels at the persona poem, writing devastating sequences on (among others) Hellen Keller, Patty Hearst, Monet, Schumann, Bach, Brendel, and Mary Shelly. This New and Selected will lead your straight to Mueller's individual collections, worth every penny.

If you are looking for one poem about relationships, "Alive Together" is the one. And with the rest of the poems in this amazing collection you'll find more truth, beauty and life. Get this book. Read this book. Send "Alive Together" to your significant other.

this book is absolutely incredible. it's very rare that i am immediately into a book when i pick it up and i was definitely into this one from the start. there were really only a couple of poems that i didn't care for--overall it is definitely worth a read. the poems are really moving and they hit you hard. i recommend giving "the blind leading the blind" and "snow" special consideration.

I treasure this book. It is beautiful, clear, and profound. Mueller's words and perspective awaken me with each reading. Robyn Johnson

This book of poetry won the Pulitzer Prize. She writes about a variety of topics, which makes her writing so easily accessible depending on whatever mood you're in or what you want to read.

Her poetry about birds is particularly detailed and lovely. As is the poetry about her mother, about death, abuse, about relationships...I can't imagine you'd be disappointed. Support POETS, support your own imagination and dreams - buy this book -- add this to your collection or give it as a gift. The title poem, Alive Together, is superb. Some other favorites: The Blind Leading the Blind, Why I need the Birds, When I am Asked, Things, Mirrors, Missing the Dead, and JOY.

here's a bit of When I am Asked:

when I am asked/how I began writing poems, I talk about the indifference of nature.

It was soon after my mother died, a brilliant June day, everything blooming.

I sat on a gray stone bench/ringed with the ingenue faces/of pink and white impatiens/and placed my grief/in the mouth of language,
the only thing that would grieve with me.

RECOMMENDED!

I'm a fan of Ms Lisel Mueller's poems. In fact I love them so much that one evening I had to have them so I bought an eBook from Amazon for Kindle.

The poems are great, but this Kindle eBook has very poor quality.

Specifically:
1. The dictionary function doesn't work
2. The formatting is inconsistent. Some poems are in a bigger font, others in font so small they are barely readable. In fact, some poems have different fonts between stanzas! I doubt this is Ms Mueller's intention.
3. Some pages are blank with just a number on them.

The way a poem is presented is very important. Spacing, indentation are all critical, so is how one page is led to another.

Clearly the publisher here doesn't care the least about the reader experience. They just slap some electronic files into a big pile and call that a ebook?!

The publisher should be ashamed of their shoddy quality. It would be inconceivable if a published book is presented this way. Why should an ebook be different?

deeply moving poetry; unique collection; highly recommended; very intelligent author with intriguing perspective and an knack for describing life experiences in a way that makes you think and feel something new

In this collection, Mueller's poems are grouped according to the new additions and works that have been previously published. Throughout the book the themes reveal her ability to see beyond the obvious and embrace realities that are overlooked. Enjoying life and all the experiences that go along with it, Mueller brings us into her world. In poems such as "Eyes and Ears" she relates the sun and moon to her friendship with an elderly man. Her poetry incorporates her sensitive eye with a biographical tone. The poem "Place and Time" is an example of this type of poem. In the poem, she discusses the attachments people create to things that can take them back to a different place and time. Mueller's point of view is tinged by her own experiences in life. Deeply personal and intimate, her poetry is written in a clear style that makes it easy to read. Yet, she has the ability to instill much emotion and meaning into her phrases. Her poems about death are particularly striking. In "After your Death" she contemplates mourning and how it keeps the dead alive. However, she does not necessarily see this as a positive thing for the dead. She writes, "You're in our power. Do we / terrify you, do you wish / for another face? Perhaps / you want to be left in the darkness." (lines 12-15). The unique way in which she views the world pervades her poetry. After reading this collection, it is obvious why it won the Pulitzer Prize. The book is a perfect addition to the library of anyone who loves poetry. The accessibility of her poetry also makes this collection a good choice for those who are new to poetry.