Customer Reviews

Blizzard of One: Poems

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As often happens, I am lead to a book of poetry by reading a poem in a magazine and then seeking out the volume in which the poem appears. Often, it takes a few years before the book appears but usually it is worth it. Certainly that is the case with this collection of poems by Mark Strand.

The poem that drew me to Strand is "A Piece of the Storm." This poem is eleven brilliant lines that, in its imagery and complexity, has incredible emotional impact. It is certainly one of the best poems I've read in the past ten years. I'm tempted to quote it in its entirely (as I do to friends) in this review but I'll resist the temptation. Consider just this one line that gives title to the book: "A snowflake, a blizzard of one, weightless, entered your room..." Notice the juxtaposition of descriptions of the snowflake. It is a blizzard, yet it is weightless. And it is the heavy force of this snowflake that leads the poem to its emotional epiphany. Needless to say, I will be turning the lines of the poem over in my mind for years to come.

As for the rest of this slim volume, if it doesn't quite live up to the promise of "A Piece of the Storm," there is much here that is worthwhile, particularly in the first half. "Untitled," "The Next Time," "The Night, The Porch," and "Some Last Words" are all excellent. The last two sections I found much less interesting though the second part of "What It Was" is quite powerful.

There are still those of us that believe in the power of poetry and believe there are still poets writing today worth reading. Mark Strand is proof of that.

I am among the many who are lucky enough to have Mark Strand as a Professor. That's the first reason why I bought this book--to learn more about him as a poet as well as getting my feet wet in the pool of poetry. The poems in this book open my mind to a different way of looking at poetry. It also offers me a better understanding of the humble man who presents lectures at my school every Monday afternoon. It is without a doubt that Mark Strand deserved the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. The poems in this book are profoundly simple yet so complex. They offer so many ways of interpretations, and I don't think even Strand can say that there is one absolute way to interpret his poems. He has once told me while I walked him to his car that: "Poetry is the celebration of language, and only through the language can one discover its meaning." Well, that's how one should read Mark Strand's poetry--indulge one's self in that peculiar world of languages.

I encourage you to read on the other works of Mark Strand because they are the essence of the 20th century poetry. In this selection, "Old Man Leaves Party" is my favorite. Hopefully, you too can find the one poem that mystifies you in this selection. Enjoy!

I can read and re-read this book of poetry any number of times and I hope to do just that.

Like the snowflake in the title poem ("A snowflake, a blizzard of one, weightless, entered your room.."), these poems enter your consciousness lightly but stay there, their weight leaving you moved and you, having read them, are now richer for having lived through the experience.

I liked many of the poems in this collection but want to specially call out a few that are amongst the best of Strand that I have read - 'The Next Time', 'A Suite of Appearances', 'What it was', 'Some Last Words' and the poem celebrating the Russian-American poet: 'In Memory of Joseph Brodsky':

"What remains of the self
unwinds into a vanishing light, and thins like dust, and heads
to a place where knowing and nothing pass into each other,
and through...

...

What remains of the self unwinds and unwinds, for none
Of the boundaries holds - neither the shapeless one between us,
Nor the one that falls between your body and your voice....

...

What remains of the self unwinds
Beyond us, for whom time is only a measure of meanwhile
And the future no more than et cetera et cetera ... but fast and
forever."

With lines like the above and also "how could I not be only myself, this dream of flesh, from moment to moment?" (Old Man Leaves Party), he writes about the self (and the sense of loss that negates this self) in ways that no other modern poet! Speaking of loss, read some of these excerpted lines from his various poems. What a celebration of life!

"Take time off before the world out there burns up. Life should be more than the body's weight working itself from room to room..."

"Living like this, hoping to revise what has been false or rendered unreadable is not what we wanted..."

"What we desire, more than a season or weather, is the comfort of being strangers, at least to ourselves.."

"There is no end to what we can learn. The book out there tells us as much, and was never written with us in mind..."

"Although I love the past, the dark of it, the weight of it teaching us nothing, the loss of it, the all of it asking for nothing.."

"The dust of a passion, the dark crumble of images down the page are all that remain..."

And into the close and mirrored catocombs of sleep we'll fall, and there in the faded light discover the bones, the dust, the bitter remains of someone who might have been / Had we not taken his place."

"Perfection is out of the question for people like us, so why plug away at the same old self.."-

And last but not least, these amazing lines from The Next Time ([...])

"Time slips by; our sorrows do not turn into poems,
And what is invisible stays that way. Desire has fled,

Leaving only a trace of perfume in its wake,
And so many people we loved have gone,

And no voice comes from outer space, from the folds
Of dust and carpets of wind to tell us that this

Is the way it was meant to happen, that if only we knew
How long the ruins would last we would never complain."

There is much more to savor ... but I'll leave you with these lines from the poem, 'The Great Poet Returns'

"Tell me, you people out there, what is poetry anyway?
Can anyone die without even a little?"

Well....certainly not without a dose of Strand's poetry!

P.S. What a shame! A Pulitzer Prize winning book of amazing AND accessible poems but only 14 reviews (this being the 15th) of the book on Amazon! So much drivel out there...but treasures such as this go unappreciated!

Simply beautiful. I love having Mark's words near at hand to sit with during quiet moments. Thoughtful gift for your poetry-loving friends.

Blizzard of One is an enjoyable collection of poems. Mark Strand writes about daily life which makes his poetry relatable to everyone. Although simple, Strand's poems can be interpreted many different ways. A witty tone underlies his beliefs about life and death. I highly recommend Blizzard of One.

Blizzard of One is a surprisingly witty, smart collection of poems. This is the first collection of poems I have read by Mr. Strand and I was delighted with the book. The poems approach everyday topics, and pushes past the ordinary. Blizzard of One draws on everyone's fears of death and suggests that death is not what is to be feared, not living life is. Blizzard of One is a wonderful collection and I would recommend it to all with even a slight interest in poetry.

This is a very moving book to read. It is certainly one worth reading several times, due to the fact that every time you read it, you pick up on something you may have missed before.

Mark Strand works at a level that is so far above my abilities that I find myself chuckling and shaking my head at his books. As I read this, my wife kept asking if it was funny stuff. I said, no, that it was just so good it was continually surprising. Reading Strand is like walking alone though the greatest museum, where each painting is a masterpiece and speaks directly to you. I can't begin to say how good this book is.

Mark Strand is an incredibly talented poet--but, then, everyone already knows that...so let's focus on what people don't know--why they should by this book! This is one of the greatest small collections of poetry I have ever seen...We used it for my EH-306 Lyric Poetry class at Stetson University, and today, as I write this, Mark Strand is giving a reading/Q&A session here...If you don't believe me, do a "look-inside" on the book...you can read one or two of his poems and judge for yourself...hope this helps.

While Mark Strand is not my favorite poet, I can still see and appreciate his brilliance. The only thing about his poetry of which I can truly complain is that it does not make good reading while you are depressed. That said, if one reads and re-reads "Blizzard of One" in a more intellectual Stevens-esque mood, one must admit themself to be in the presence of a master. Strand's lines are inventive and extremely well-honed, and his work suggests the depth and complexity of a poet of the highest, or almost-highest, caliber.

Not too many people notice Strand's sense of humor, though. He read at my college in the fall of 1999 on the same night as (are you ready for this?) Donald Justice and Derek Walcott. Reading last, after Walcott read a selection from the manuscript of "Tiepolo's Hound," Strand got up and started making everyone laugh with what he read. Most of what he read was from "Blizzard of One," too. "Some Last Words" is probably the poem in this collection which best embodies that side of Strand.

I reccomend this book for anyone who loves poetry. Just be in the right mood when you read it.