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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Bly's first book of verse since last year's The Winged Energy of Delight: Selected Translations is also his second collection of what he calls ghazals: unrhymed, intensely wrought 18-line pentameter poems based on the Urdu form of that name. Bly's ghazals let him leap from topic to topic, showcasing exclamations and single images: "We are the sparrow that flies through the warrior's/ Hall and back out into the falling snow," he announces in "Brahms," one of many poems that aim "to praise all the great musicians." (Haydn, Rameau and the virtuosi of sitar and tabla get tributes, as do biblical characters.) Many stanzas pivot on Bly's speech to himself ("Robert, you're close to joy but not quite there"); always Bly strives for passionate wisdom. The results, when pushed through Bly's more Iron John–like persona, sometimes end up self-helpy: "A pain that we have earned gives more nourishment/ Than the joy we won at the lottery last night." Some readers may find individual lines impressive, but the book as a whole ends up being less than the sum of its joyous parts. Readers who miss the direct, daring Bly of the '60s, though, may rejoice to find that he's back, in force. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
As in his last collection, The Night Abraham Called to the Stars (2001), Bly explores the dynamics of the ghazal, a form established by Islamic poets and which he crafts in tercets. His newest ghazals are ecstatic and gorgeously associative lyrics that draw on the myths and sacred texts of many cultures, various works of art ranging from a Rembrandt drawing to a painting by Robert Motherwell, and striking personal reminiscences. Bly, as he always does, is seeking the universal even as he embraces the particulars of a practice, a place, a painting, or a musical tradition. He calls out to sitar and tabla players. He writes of Adam and angels, Plato and Andrew Marvell. These are prayers, koans, warnings, assurances, and revelations. But for all the art, philosophy, and literature Bly pays homage to, it is nature that holds the key, nature that is holy. Sweet and full of longing, these are enrapturing poems about death and rebirth, humankind's small place in the cosmos, and the great wheel of life. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
Bly's first book of verse since last year's The Winged Energy of Delight: Selected Translations is also his second collection of what he calls ghazals: unrhymed, intensely wrought 18-line pentameter poems based on the Urdu form of that name. Bly's ghazals let him leap from topic to topic, showcasing exclamations and single images: "We are the sparrow that flies through the warrior's/ Hall and back out into the falling snow," he announces in "Brahms," one of many poems that aim "to praise all the great musicians." (Haydn, Rameau and the virtuosi of sitar and tabla get tributes, as do biblical characters.) Many stanzas pivot on Bly's speech to himself ("Robert, you're close to joy but not quite there"); always Bly strives for passionate wisdom. The results, when pushed through Bly's more Iron John–like persona, sometimes end up self-helpy: "A pain that we have earned gives more nourishment/ Than the joy we won at the lottery last night." Some readers may find individual lines impressive, but the book as a whole ends up being less than the sum of its joyous parts. Readers who miss the direct, daring Bly of the '60s, though, may rejoice to find that he's back, in force. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
As in his last collection, The Night Abraham Called to the Stars (2001), Bly explores the dynamics of the ghazal, a form established by Islamic poets and which he crafts in tercets. His newest ghazals are ecstatic and gorgeously associative lyrics that draw on the myths and sacred texts of many cultures, various works of art ranging from a Rembrandt drawing to a painting by Robert Motherwell, and striking personal reminiscences. Bly, as he always does, is seeking the universal even as he embraces the particulars of a practice, a place, a painting, or a musical tradition. He calls out to sitar and tabla players. He writes of Adam and angels, Plato and Andrew Marvell. These are prayers, koans, warnings, assurances, and revelations. But for all the art, philosophy, and literature Bly pays homage to, it is nature that holds the key, nature that is holy. Sweet and full of longing, these are enrapturing poems about death and rebirth, humankind's small place in the cosmos, and the great wheel of life. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
See all Editorial Reviews
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