Customer Reviews

Ten Poems to Open Your Heart

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There's already a great review by G. Merrit of this book so all I want to do is to add my praise. The poem "St. Francis and the Sow" and the commentary by Housden is perhaps the most beautiful, life affirming, soul enriching text I have ever read in my life. To me it is "sacred text". I want to send a copy of it to every one I've ever loved, liked, hated or sat across from on a bus!

I am new to poetry - I've wanted to be interested in it and I've enjoyed it when it was quoted by others - but I never found it accessible. Housden's commentary has remedied that. But beyond that, Housden's books are more than commentary on poetry. They are the best books on spirituality, life, humanness, God, i.e. the "important topics" that I have ever read in my life. Thank you, Roger Housden, for opening this wonderful world to me.

This collection delivers exactly what it promises in its title, ten poems to open your heart. In his more recent anthology, RISKING EVERYTHING (2003), editor Roger Housden observes that "suffering is part of how it is on earth; it is an inherent part of the fabric of existence. And if we are lucky, it will break our heart open" (p. xiii). The ten poems Housden has collected here reveal that, even in the midst of life's difficulties, disappointments, and broken dreams, love can bloom. And, as Mary Oliver reflects in the book's opening poem, while there is life without love, it "is not worth a bent penny, or a scuffed shoe" (p. 15).

Housden knows his poetry. Great poetry, he says, "is a bridge between our heart and the heart of the world" that allows us to forget ourselves and the world pours in (p. 7). Each of the ten poems collected here approaches love from a different angle: compassionate, romantic, sexual, ecstatic, and transcendent. And each poem encourages us to follow our heart. whatever the consequences. Several poems brought tears to my eyes. As in his previous book in this series, TEN POEMS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE (2002), Housden calls upon his reader to "Wake up and Love!" (p. 12). He again insightfully illustrates each poem with experiences drawn from his own life.

The ten poets collected here include Oliver, Sharon Olds, Galway Kinnell, Wislawa Szymborska, Czeslaw Milosz, Naomi Shihab Nye, Denise Levertov, Pablo Neruda, Robert Bly, and Rumi. My only criticism of this book is that, for whatever reason, Housden chose to limit his collection to ten poems, followed "a brief list" of "other poets to open your heart," leaving me to wonder why those poets weren't included here as well.

G. Merritt

This book wasn't exactly what I expected...the poems chosen in this book are good, by poets I enjoy...the commentary, dissection, opinions were not. Interpretation, I believe, should be left to the reader. If more information is wanted, then read a biography on the poet.

but enjoyed this book.

Also enjoyed 'Soul of Mature Adolescence'