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Rating: 
Summary: Captivating and Honest
Review: I absolutely love this book. Jane Kenyon's poetry describes some of the most simple, daily activities in a way that brings out their hidden beauty and grace. You can sense the careful observation and truthfullness of what she describes, yet as you read you can interpret the symbolism behind certain passages and the realizations there aswell. I feel so deeply connected with this book. Her poetry speaks the words we cannot say. You won't regret buying this book.
Rating:
Summary: In Memory
Review: I first learned of Jane Kenyon in my first poetry class where we had to find a poet we liked and do a research paper on this person. Jane Kenyon was my pick because she has such wonderful fish-hook endings in her poems. After this class, I studied with Lucie Brock-Broido and one evening she showed us the pre-release of the cover of this book, Otherwise, when Tree came over, the artist for the cover. It felt like fate at that moment and then fate came again, I was awarded the first Jane Kenyon Scholarship in Poetry at Bennington College. Jane Kenyon's poetry stays with me and I believe it will stay with many of us. I recommend this book and her others along with Donald Hall's books, to whom I am peacefully indebted. In memory of Jane Kenyon, I add one of my poems to this review that was first published at webdelsol.com under Editor's Picks in the year 2000. If Jane were here now, I would tell her I am now getting my Ph.D. in Creative Writing with the help of her. As Liam Rector would say, she is with us as a Constellation. In memory.Cancer If your panties fell beneath your thighs as you stood washing you hair. If the sky stepped down to rest upon the bow of your body. If the vine did not release your stretch. Would you turn and see yourself? Shapes change. The road map of an x-ray says you are here. Umbrellas fan beneath the rain above your lumping mood and moss seldom goes home where capsules frame the fishbowl of domestic herbs. Recline. Watch the flower by the tank. Touch the hide and better treat the light. Then unveil the curtain from your side and lift your arm to elbow curve. Speak up or down above the glide for waves in bottles sometimes leak. Cleaning soothes the restless, ringing hands. Let the muddy water run. Birds so high see nothing but the mouse upon the ground, the promise of a cap, the rock that will not hatch. Be glad. Put the forest in the frame. Give it shade, then walk away. City docks balance on poles centuries old, still unclean. Sunflowers make postions, bend.
Rating:
Summary: In Memory
Review: I first learned of Jane Kenyon in my first poetry class where we had to find a poet we liked and do a research paper on this person. Jane Kenyon was my pick because she has such wonderful fish-hook endings in her poems. After this class, I studied with Lucie Brock-Broido and one evening she showed us the pre-release of the cover of this book, Otherwise, when Tree came over, the artist for the cover. It felt like fate at that moment and then fate came again, I was awarded the first Jane Kenyon Scholarship in Poetry at Bennington College. Jane Kenyon's poetry stays with me and I believe it will stay with many of us. I recommend this book and her others along with Donald Hall's books, to whom I am peacefully indebted. In memory of Jane Kenyon, I add one of my poems to this review that was first published at webdelsol.com under Editor's Picks in the year 2000. If Jane were here now, I would tell her I am now getting my Ph.D. in Creative Writing with the help of her. As Liam Rector would say, she is with us as a Constellation. In memory. Cancer If your panties fell beneath your thighs as you stood washing you hair. If the sky stepped down to rest upon the bow of your body. If the vine did not release your stretch. Would you turn and see yourself? Shapes change. The road map of an x-ray says you are here. Umbrellas fan beneath the rain above your lumping mood and moss seldom goes home where capsules frame the fishbowl of domestic herbs. Recline. Watch the flower by the tank. Touch the hide and better treat the light. Then unveil the curtain from your side and lift your arm to elbow curve. Speak up or down above the glide for waves in bottles sometimes leak. Cleaning soothes the restless, ringing hands. Let the muddy water run. Birds so high see nothing but the mouse upon the ground, the promise of a cap, the rock that will not hatch. Be glad. Put the forest in the frame. Give it shade, then walk away. City docks balance on poles centuries old, still unclean. Sunflowers make postions, bend.
Rating:
Summary: Poetry for the human experience
Review: It was this anthology of poetry that transformed my mother from a woman who dislikes poetry to a woman who reads it every day. I read her one poem and got her hooked. Jane Kenyen speaks directly to her reader, using simple images and plain language, capturing experiences that often feel familiar and sometimes reminding us of their meaning and significance. This is not poetry that could be shouted at a poetry slam or puzzled over by scholars looking for allusions to Sanskrit texts. This is poetry about our lives, about burying the cat, ironing a tablecloth, saying goodbye to guests, winter weather, faith, sadness, and love. I love poetry, but sometimes it feels daunting and inaccessible. Jane Kenyon writes like I am her guest, sitting at her kitchen table, and she has a moment to share.
Rating:
Summary: Poetry for the human experience
Review: It was this anthology of poetry that transformed my mother from a woman who dislikes poetry to a woman who reads it every day. I read her one poem and got her hooked. Jane Kenyen speaks directly to her reader, using simple images and plain language, capturing experiences that often feel familiar and sometimes reminding us of their meaning and significance. This is not poetry that could be shouted at a poetry slam or puzzled over by scholars looking for allusions to Sanskrit texts. This is poetry about our lives, about burying the cat, ironing a tablecloth, saying goodbye to guests, winter weather, faith, sadness, and love. I love poetry, but sometimes it feels daunting and inaccessible. Jane Kenyon writes like I am her guest, sitting at her kitchen table, and she has a moment to share.
Rating:
Summary: Bright Stars on a Winter Night
Review: Jane Kenyon's OTHERWISE is perhaps the best collection of American poetry in the past decade. With her accessible and illuminating poems, Ms. Kenyon captures the essence of life in all its ordinariness and extraordinariness. "Let Evening Come," for example, is a nearly perfect gem -- thoughtful, concise, movingly eloquent. Throughout this collection, the poet demonstrates a remarkable clarity of vision; her diction and meter are gorgeous, her wit and insight profound yet never burdensome. Whether recalling a scene from her childhood, an hour in winter, a cancer treatment, a death in the family, or a walk with the dog, Ms. Kenyon inspires, illuminates, and entertains.
Rating:
Summary: Bright Stars on a Winter Night
Review: Jane Kenyon's OTHERWISE is perhaps the best collection of American poetry in the past decade. With her accessible and illuminating poems, Ms. Kenyon captures the essence of life in all its ordinariness and extraordinariness. "Let Evening Come," for example, is a nearly perfect gem -- thoughtful, concise, movingly eloquent. Throughout this collection, the poet demonstrates a remarkable clarity of vision; her diction and meter are gorgeous, her wit and insight profound yet never burdensome. Whether recalling a scene from her childhood, an hour in winter, a cancer treatment, a death in the family, or a walk with the dog, Ms. Kenyon inspires, illuminates, and entertains.
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