About this item
Highlights
- The voice in these remarkable poems displays the assurance of a poet who has perfected her art.
- Author(s): Barbara Helfgott-Hyett
- 108 Pages
- Poetry, American
Description
About the Book
"The child we meet in the very first poem of Come Thunder, "Light Keeper's Daughter," the innocent on the cusp of ecstasy and grief, becomes the soul of this poet who bears witness to love and its wonders, to joy and forbearance, to atrocity and betrayal, throughout this continually astonishing book. The depth of the knowing in these poems is holy. Do not read this book unless you want to better understand your life"--Book Synopsis
The voice in these remarkable poems displays the assurance of a poet who has perfected her art. This authority carries throughout all three sections of the book: from the first section, scenes from childhood written with the authenticity of a child's point of view, that is without sentimentality or rationalization; through "Transparency," poems of almost prayerful wonder at the natural world; culminating in "Proof of the Spinning World" which synthesizes personal, natural, and political concerns. These poems forgo the ornamental to give us startling line after line, truth after truth. The poet risks all: "Who will love me now that I/have shown how brave I am?" the poet asks in "To Be a Sloth" and tells us in another poem that to be happy you must "Make life up/then force your eyes to see it." In this stunning collection, Helfgott Hyett teaches us to see the world without mercy but with love.