I've been reading Louise Gluck again. It's a collection called Meadowlands. I read it in high school, and have peered at it since, but now I've actually been giving it some attention. You might note that I've listed the entire book in the booklist, but I have not finished the entire collection. "But, John," you might be saying, "how dare you! You're cheating; you're lying! You're putting words in my mouth, and you're starting sentences with conjunctions!" Well, faithful reader(s), poetry is meant to be savored; I read a few poems, but the book back up on the shelf, bring it back down, be pretentious, you know, the normal...
Here's a brief, unsolicited review. Meadowlands has two strands running through it, a retelling of the Odyssey, and domestic scenes from a tenuous and almost-happy marriage. It's got equal parts humor--
with your troublesome body
you have done things you shouldn't
discuss in poems
--and quiet beauty--
So Penelope took the hand of Odysseus,
not to hold him back but to impress
this peace on his memoryfrom this point on, the silence through which you move
is my voice pursuing you.
I want to give you one more poem to look over, because it's classic and funny. If Louise Gluck or her legally-appointed representative(s) is reading this, please don't sue me.
Telemacheus' DetachmentWhen I was a child looking
at my parents' lives, you know
what I thought? I thought
heartbreaking. Now I think
heartbreaking, but also
insane. Also
very funny.
If you like poems, and you have a best girl (or boy) and a quiet evening, check out Meadowlands. You'll enjoy it.
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