Customer Reviews

Strike Sparks: Selected Poems, 1980-2002

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Her father is dying, and her plane's been cancelled, but there's another, leaving in just a few minutes, not in this terminal, but it will get her to her father before he dies, and so Sharon Olds runs --- I swear to you, she runs as no woman has ever run before.

She's making love. Though it looks like she's having sex, because the writing is so specific. But as much as Sharon Olds revels when he does [redacted] to her and she [redacted], she's clear what's really going on. ("How do they do it, the ones who make love without love?" she wonders.) And so, after, she knows what women know after.

Her son, he's so big now. And her daughter --- brushing her hair, Sharon Olds can't help thinking: What does it all mean?

Parents, lovers/husbands, children. Sharon Olds deals mostly --- I could almost say: deals only --- with the big topics. At least, the big topics if you have parents, husbands/lovers and kids. And she deals with them so directly, so bluntly, that it may come as a surprise to those who do not know her writing that she is a poet, and, for my money, the best we have.

The subject of a lot of poetry is poetry: the poem taking its place --- or wanting to --- in the great chain of literature. Sharon Olds has done her reading. And she has her influences. But the beauty of her writing is that you see none of that. All you get is a woman, looking and listening, and then talking. "Do what you are going to do, and I will tell you about it," she writes at the end of a poem about her parents, and that's the strength of her work --- it's just the facts she thinks you need, plus her take on them.

Sharon Olds can go this deep because she lives this deep. She does not read newspapers or watch TV. "The amount of horror one used to hear about in one village could be quite extreme," she explains. "But one might not have heard about all the other villages' horrors at the same time." Also, she doesn't drink coffee or smoke, and she limits her wine. Her life is marriage, kids, work. Which, she says, accounts for accessibility of her poems:

"I think that my work is easy to understand because I am not a thinker. How can I put it? I write the way I perceive, I guess. It's not really simple, I don't think, but it's about ordinary things -- feeling about things, about people. I'm not an intellectual, I'm not an abstract thinker. And I'm interested in ordinary life. So I think that our writing reflects us."

"Strike Sparks" is a selection of her poems from 1980 to 2002. It tells a story, though that wasn't her intent along the way. ("I'm just interested in human stuff like hate, love, sexual love and sex. I don't see why not.") In these poems, we follow the dying of a father, the growth of children, the deepening of love through sex. And more. Because Sharon Olds mostly does what the greatest poets do: She knows what you feel, but can't find the words to say.

Sharon Olds has many capabilities as a poet. This collection is highly entertaining, catches you off guard, is vivid, moving, and beautifully raunchy. She celebrates sex and family as well, or better, than anyone I've read. Nice book with some very memorable poems.

Sharon Olds is a standard issue female confessionalist poet. If you like Plath or Sexton then give her a try. She is more graphic then they are though. I hate to see her described by one reviewer as the worst poet in the world. Simply not true. If you enjoy honest, bare and shocking writing then she will be the best poet you have ever read.

I have to admit I was not familiar with the work of Sharon Olds before today. Today I read her moving letter to Laura Bush explaining why she was declining her invitation to the National Book Festival in Washington.

If her poetry is one tenth as moving, heart-felt, and true as that letter, she's gotta be one terrific poet, and I look forward to the volumes of her work I ordered from Amazon this evening. If you've not yet read her letter yet, I urge you, do so.

After reading her letter to Mrs. Bush, I'm supporting Sharon Old's rejection of Laura Bush's invitation to participate in the National Book Festival and breakfast at the White House by buying one of her books. Thank you, Sharon Olds for making this brave and costly stand. I hope others will buy your books to support you and your honesty. I look forward to becoming acquainted with your poetry.

Sharon Olds is an excellent poet, and this collection makes a grand introduction for anyone who is not already familiar with her work.

Sharon Olds is an incredible poet, and should be read by anyone interested in current poetry. The poems in Strike Sparks are powerful language evoking clear visuals and strong feelings. The seeming simplicity of her writing style, coupled with her focused attention, leaves one wanting to turn each page and absorb yet another. At the same time, she has a wonderful sense of humor--the first page that flipped open when I first picked up the book was "The Pope's Penis." How can you not explore further after that?!

As one of Olds' fans for many years, I am the owner of most of her books. Her book The Father still brings me to tears. I want to buy this additional one in support, as are others, of her letter to Laura Bush--and of her ongoing brilliance and honesty as a poet.