The carrying : poems

by Ada Limón

Paper Book, 2018

Status

Available

Genres

All Topics

Fiction

Publication

Minneapolis, Minnesota : Milkweed Editions, 2018.

Description

Fictio Poetr Romanc HTML:NBCC Award Winner: "The narrative lyrics in this remarkable collection . . . could stand as compressed stories about anxiety and the body." �??The New York Times Vulnerable, tender, acute, these are serious poems, brave poems, exploring with honesty the ambiguous moment between the rapture of youth and the grace of acceptance. A daughter tends to aging parents. A woman struggles with infertility�??"What if, instead of carrying / a child, I am supposed to carry grief?"�??and a body seized by pain and vertigo as well as ecstasy. A nation convulses: "Every song of this country / has an unsung third stanza, something brutal." And still National Book Award finalist Ada Limón shows us, as ever, the persistence of hunger, love, and joy, the dizzying fullness of our too-short lives. "Fine then, / I'll take it," she writes. "I'll take it all." "Gorgeous, thought-provoking . . . simple, striking images." �??Publishers Weekly (starred review) "Exquisite." �??The Washington Post "Pitch-perfect . . . full of poems to savor and share . . . She writes with remarkable directness about painful experiences normally packaged in euphemism and, in doing so, invites the readers to enter a world where abundant joy exists alongside and simultaneous to loss." �??Minneapolis Star-Tribune Winner of the National Book Critics Circle… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member jphamilton

Rarely do I buy hardcover poetry, especially by unfamiliar poets, but I took a chance here because of the reviews and the few poems I read online. I was richly rewarded with this wonderful collection. The poems reflect so broad a range of sexual longing, grieving, loving, the importance of

gardening and the natural world, and the power of family. Poetry is all about the words, and reading these poems aloud shows the beauty of her talent.

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LibraryThing member viviennestrauss

I listened to this on audio while working and while trying to fall asleep - possibly 5 times now. Each time I have a new favorite poem.

LibraryThing member laytonwoman3rd

I struggled through many of the poems in this collection, not often finding the essential connection that makes poetry work for me, when it does. And then I struggled to understand why. This collection will definitely speak to many readers in a vital way. The poet's talent is evident. Her recurring

themes of the need to nurture, the ambivalence of a woman toward her own body, the import of the natural world---these are all proven winners in the literary race for my favor. What often wallops me when I read a Really Good Poem is a new perspective on a familiar thing. And yet, Limon's perspective is usually what puts me off. I don't see things the way she does, and when pointed in her direction, I'd rather not shift. Hers is not an opposing view, it's just cock-eyed to my view. I sought in vain for the "magic" in her language. There were three, maybe four selections I read and read again, with pleasure and understanding---"Of Roots and Roamers", "The Visitor", "Sundown and All the Damage Done". Still, I don't expect to remember them long. Poetry is first, last and always deeply personal. Two of Limon's poems will stick with me because while incredibly personal to her, they are still comprehensible to me despite being outside my own experience: "The Real Reason" touched me; "The Contract Says..." made me angry for all the right reasons.

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