Customer Reviews

Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poems

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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

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.

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.]

I liked this collection, especially August Day and Balance.
Perhaps it's a good idea to see if those are available to read on-line before buying the book.

Her poems have become more spare over the years, and I find that has honed them to their essence, which appeals to me. I think they're more personal than her earlier work.

I also want to mention that if you love poetry there's a great Yahoo group called Panhala that automatically sends you a quality poem every day. Just join the group on Yahoo.

Jane Hirshfield, Given Sugar, Given Salt (Harper Collins, 2001)

It's absurd to start talking about the best books I read in 2008 two days into the year (yes, I'm writing this review on January second), but that's the only way I can really approach Given Sugar, Given Salt, Jane Hirshfield's incredible little book of poems. When I'm reviewing a poetry book, I'll usually jot down notes, then spend fifteen to twenty minutes coming up with a quote that's both good (or awful, depending on the review) and that shows in some way the overall quality of the book; there is, however, the rare exception where I can simply open the book to a random page and start copying, fully confident that whatever passage I choose, it will be both wonderful and indicative. This is one of those books; I'm opening to a random page.

"There are times I feel myself a cow stripped of her leather.

The hide going on without me,
flensed, vat-dipped, beaten to pliable smoothness.

What remains-- awkward, vaguely aware
that something is missing, but what?-- continues
its looking outward, evenly breathes.

Sunlight, wind, the black, inquiring noises of others:
sharp now as the knife.

Muscled unjacketed egg.
Impossible butcher's diagram walking, Beginning to graze.
("Leather")

The first sentence sets you up for a letdown: it's a sentence that screams "I am a message poem. Take me seriously." And yet, when we jump over the strophe break and hit those next two lines, we get nothing of the sort. There's a surprising image couched in erudite language that is entirely inappropriate for its subject matter, and that inappropriateness makes the surprise all the more fun. The poem continues on with its gentle, if deeply sick, humor, until we get back to the "I am a message poem" stuff right before the last strophe, and then, once again, Hirshfield turns away from it, leaving the reader to figure out what the hell "muscled, unjacketed egg" has to do with anything, and making us laugh, uncomfortably, once again with "Impossible butcher's diagram walking." That's great stuff, right there.

The book's sole problem rises from this willingness Hirshfield displays time and again to walk that line between the vapid self-importance of message poetry and the brilliant, subtle lands she usually inhabits; as is to be expected, I guess, every once in a while she crosses over that line into the land of vapid message poetry. Those incursions, however, are rare, far more so than one would expect given how close Hirshfield always is to that edge.

This is amazing work, and it deserves to be read. Pick it up at your earliest opportunity. **** ½

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.

Hirshfield is a recent discovery for me, on PBS special about the Buddha. Recently I have begun to read her poetry. I'm no Buddhist, but her work always seems to have a sublime touch reminiscent of the ideas at the core of that special. Very interesting ideas that keep my interest in poetry alive.

Jane Hirshfield's "Given Sugar, Given Salt" is a unique collection of extra ordinary observation and insight expressed with elegant simplicity.

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.

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.