"A graceful and moving glimpse into a rare and giving artist's refined poetics, garden aesthetics, and spirituality."—Booklist
Throughout his life (1905-2006) Stanley Kunitz created poetry and tended gardens. This book is the distillation of conversations, none previously published, that took place between 2002 and 2004. Beginning with the garden, that "work of the imagination," the explorations journey through personal recollections, the creative process, and the harmony of the life cycle. A bouquet of poems and a total of 26 full-color photographs accompany the various sections. The Wild Braid received a 2006 American Horticultural Society Book Award.
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Editorial Reviews
From Booklist
Kunitz, who will turn 100 years old in July, has twice been named Poet Laureate of the U.S. He is not only a distinguished and luminous lyric poet but also an ardent gardener. As he reflects on his callings in this lovely mix of prose, poetry, conversation, and photographs, he illuminates the many ways each practice nurtures the other. Kunitz traces his rapport with nature to his boyhood, when he found refuge from family tragedy in woods and fields. In describing his seaside Provincetown garden, he contemplates the garden as "the cosmos in miniature" and a "compressed parable of the human experience." He observes that both gardening and writing poetry depend on the "wild permissiveness of the inner life." In the aftermath of a serious illness and an amazing recovery, Kunitz talks radiantly about death and art, and how an artist's work expresses "gratitude for the gift of life." In all, this is a graceful and moving glimpse into a rare and giving artist's refined poetics, garden aesthetics, and spirituality. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Review
“A miracle.” (Galway Kinnell )
“No one who has ever gardened passionately will be a stranger to the sentiments Kunitz expresses about this act of domestic creation, but very few of us will ever come close to writing about it with his grace and clarity. This is indeed a book to cherish.” (Kate Tyndall - Raleigh News & Observer )
“No one who has ever gardened passionately will be a stranger to the sentiments Kunitz expresses about this act of domestic creation, but very few of us will ever come close to writing about it with his grace and clarity. This is indeed a book to cherish.” (Kate Tyndall - Raleigh News & Observer )
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 48 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Dinitia Smith interviewed Stanley Kunitz and Genine Lentine about this book. Her article appears in the NY Times Book- Review. In this article Kunitz speaks about the making of the book, about poetry, about gardening. The most moving part of the interview was a poem which he read to Smith, a poem written for his wife who died two years ago at the age of ninety- three.
He read the poem to Smith, and she comments in the middle.
Summer is late, my heart.
Words plucked out of the air
some forty years ago
when I was wild with love.
He came to the poem's haunting conclusion:
Darling, do you remember
the man you married? Touch me,
remind me who I am.
I was moved by the poem.
It is also moving to think of someone reaching one - hundred years of age, and still writing poetry.
Kunitz says that he understands the necessity of death as the world would become just ' old wrecks' were everyone to go on without end.
He speaks as Borges does of wanting to become 'language' or ' part of the language'.
Aside from the poetry I believe many people will want to possess this book simply because it in some way represents a triumph of the human spirit and will.
"We who are so young, have neither seen so much, nor lived so long."
He read the poem to Smith, and she comments in the middle.
Summer is late, my heart.
Words plucked out of the air
some forty years ago
when I was wild with love.
He came to the poem's haunting conclusion:
Darling, do you remember
the man you married? Touch me,
remind me who I am.
I was moved by the poem.
It is also moving to think of someone reaching one - hundred years of age, and still writing poetry.
Kunitz says that he understands the necessity of death as the world would become just ' old wrecks' were everyone to go on without end.
He speaks as Borges does of wanting to become 'language' or ' part of the language'.
Aside from the poetry I believe many people will want to possess this book simply because it in some way represents a triumph of the human spirit and will.
"We who are so young, have neither seen so much, nor lived so long."
22 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Stanley Kunitz is one hundred years old this year and, if that it's not enough reason to rejoice, he's also published a book, thoughtfuy aided by Genine Lentine, in which he shares his two loves, gardening and writing poetry. And if I name these two passions of Kunitz's in such order is because the garden is at the center of his thought here.
Accompanied by interesting photographs -some are remarkable portraits of Stanley- Kunitz words tell the story of his legendary Provincetown garden, and in the process he offers those lessons to his poetic insight.
The result is a brief book of love for craft, in this case what caring after trees teaches you and what writing a poem entails and demands from his maker.
I'm honored and elated to be reading some new words from such wise elder of the poetic word.
Accompanied by interesting photographs -some are remarkable portraits of Stanley- Kunitz words tell the story of his legendary Provincetown garden, and in the process he offers those lessons to his poetic insight.
The result is a brief book of love for craft, in this case what caring after trees teaches you and what writing a poem entails and demands from his maker.
I'm honored and elated to be reading some new words from such wise elder of the poetic word.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I was back "home" with my folks this weekend and my dad really has been enjoying this book (shipped to him for Father's Day)as well. Mr. Kunitz reflections on his amazing life experience are outstanding. I fell in love with the book as well. Definitely give it 5 stars. Enjoy :)
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Celebrates Life, Resiliency and Wisdom--A Great Gift Book
"I have walked through many lives,/none of them my own,/and I am not who I was..."
Thus begins "The Layers," one of the poems by Stanley Kunitz found in this remarkable and... Read more
Thus begins "The Layers," one of the poems by Stanley Kunitz found in this remarkable and... Read more
Published 13 months ago by Sturdy Reader
Beautiful book
Stanley Kunitz was a terrific poet who lived to be 100 years old and welcomed each new day as possibly the beginning of a new stage of life. Read more
Published 23 months ago by A. N.
Thoughts on the garden, life, and death
Like many people, I grew into the world of poetry with Kunitz as a guide, a teacher, a thoughtful poet, and a role model of what the human spirit could achieve. Read more
Published on December 30, 2009 by Marcus Aurelius
Wisdom for the young and the old
It was when Stanley Kunitz died and I read an obituary about his life that I became aware of this amazing poet. Read more
Published on September 12, 2009 by Sandra Kulli
Visual & written poetry for anyone who loves nature.
The photography is as touching and mystical as the poetry itself which is elegant and profound in it's beautiful straightforward simplicity. A testament to aging gracefully. Read more
Published on December 31, 2008 by ellen elphand
A Masterpiece
I love and adore this book and would have loved to have known Kunitz. His thoughts on poetry and gardening mix beautifully into a book that I have read again and again. Read more
Published on July 6, 2008 by T. Steffen
Wonderful
This book is an absolute MUST : the photos do Stanley Kunitz justice : he was a charming old man of nearly 100 years of age; his view on life & poetry are just what one needs at... Read more
Published on August 13, 2007 by Josette Valenti
Small Gem
This is one of those books I will keep and return to frequently, a small gem produced just before Stanley Kunitz's 100th birthday. It is a lovely combination of photos and text. Read more
Published on May 13, 2007 by Elaine
A Celebration of Old Age, Gardens and Poetry
There are so many aspects of this wonderful book to comment on. The photos of Stanley in his garden celebrate the beauty of his garden and of living life to the fullest in old... Read more
Published on February 25, 2007 by Patricia Kramer
Reflections and Expressions of a life in relation to the "natural...
These reflections and poems of Stanley Kunitz express his understanding of the garden as a place that "leads to an appreciation of the natural universe", his delight in each day,... Read more
Published on January 14, 2007 by Sarah Reeves
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