9780060199548

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In poems complex in meaning yet clear in statement and depiction, Hirshfield explores questions of identity, aging, and death; of the losses and gains both passionate connection and solitude; of time and the variegated gifts brought by its relentless passage. Whether meditating upon a button, the role of habit in our lives, or the elusive nature of our relationship to sleep, Hirshfield brings each subject into a surprising and magnified existence. Through the breadth and honed beauty of her contemplations, and in the deep usefulness readers ascribe to her work in their own lives. Hirshfield has found a place distinctively her own among American poets.

"[A] poet who consistently aims high and, more often than we have a right to expect, achieves that rare combination of qualities Rilke loved in the Psalms, of 'seriousness and weigh and eternity.' Hershfield's tone refreshingly avoids the clipped diction that hurries so many of our period poems along to their well-deserved oblivion. Working against the grain of a society in which too often even the poets are slaves to speed, she carefully paces her poems to take whatever time they need, so that their 'guest' may comfortably and thoroughly occupy them. The best of them will remain guests in our cultural memory a long time."

Thomas R. Smith, Ruminator Review, Spring 2001

"[J]aw-dropping..."

Pat Holt, Holt Uncensored, 05/18/2001

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