Roger Housden

While I have read most of Housden's other "10 Poems" collections as well as his other collections and have liked them all, I liked his essays in this fine small collection best of all. Especially remarkable is the essay on Anna Swir's "Thank You, My Fate."
In this essay, more than any other of his writings, I felt that Housden's reactions to the poem were deeply felt, profoundly important to him, and, most of all, most beautifully expressed in his writing--intimate revelations personal yet show more universal. His insight, "By contrast, sensations alone--however orgasmic--ultimately fail to deliver the goods....To skim the surface of life, however, is likely to leave us on our own, and, ultimately, lonely," (p. 112) reflects the thinking of not only the poet but also of Husden whose life experience is recalled and made all the more intense through the experience of this poem, resulting in Housden's profound final conclusion, "How great our possibilities, how small our lives." (p. 114)
Housden selects truly the poetry that is the best the world has to offer and exposes himself in his reaction to it. And, in so doing, he helps us find the best, the deepest, and the inmost feelings of ourselves. show less

While I have read most of Housden's other "10 Poems" collections as well as his other collections and have liked them all, I liked his essays in this fine small collection best of all. Especially remarkable is the essay on Anna Swir's "Thank You, My Fate."
In this essay, more than any other of his writings, I felt that Housden's reactions to the poem were deeply felt, profoundly important to him, and, most of all, most beautifully expressed in his writing--intimate revelations personal yet show more universal. His insight, "By contrast, sensations alone--however orgasmic--ultimately fail to deliver the goods....To skim the surface of life, however, is likely to leave us on our own, and, ultimately, lonely," (p. 112) reflects the thinking of not only the poet but also of Husden whose life experience is recalled and made all the more intense through the experience of this poem, resulting in Housden's profound final conclusion, "How great our possibilities, how small our lives." (p. 114)
Housden selects truly the poetry that is the best the world has to offer and exposes himself in his reaction to it. And, in so doing, he helps us find the best, the deepest, and the inmost feelings of ourselves. show less

This is a terrible book. The commentary provides too much personal (and disconcertingly jejune) information that cannot be of interest to anyone other than the author and his apparently odd wife. His discussion of the poems sounds like a mawkish college freshman at three o'clock in the morning after having taken many bong hits discussing how each grain of sand could be its own universe.
One also has to ask whether there was an editor. On page 41, it is clear that the author has no idea what show more the word "kelson" means; he apparently believes it to mean a subatomic particle, when in fact it is a part of a ship. On page 93, he misuses the word "enormity" to mean vast, rather than its correct meaning of extreme wickedness or evil. For a book about poetry, it is remarkably insensitive to the meaning of words, or the aesthetic pleasure of using them economically. show less

Nice to have someone to read poetry with!

Housden has chosen some remarkable poems by remarkable poets (see list below). He suggests reading a poem several times before going on to his commentary. Maybe even do so over a series of days, which is what I did. Excellent advice. Doing that gave me time with each poem to sip a little more of its meaning with each reading and each reading I gained more pleasure and more of its power. I took my time to sit with my ideas and impressions. I took about show more a month to read these ten.

Next to the eloquent poems, Housden's commentary is in a distinct contrast using his every day vernacular. He doesn't write much on the mechanics of the poem but rather focuses on extracting the meaning of each poem. His poem selections and his interpretations are Buddhist-leaning.

All that suits me to a tee. (This isn't a college course, nor was I looking for that.) I simply wanted some good spirit-filled poems along with some helpful insights. And Housden provided exactly that. His reflections often included his personal anecdotes lending a warm touch.

There were a few poems that I especially appreciated his insights; a couple of poems gave me some difficulty in extracting their meanings myself. It was especially nice when he also discussed the poet and poem's background. For the poem "The God Abandons Antony" that was very helpful.

Here are the ten poems. I've bolded those that were most impactful for me but all were very good.

1 Self-Portrait --by David Whyte
2 Lake and Maple --by Jane Hirshfield
3 Throw Yourself Like Seed --by Miguel de Unamuno
4 Unfold Your Own Myth (excerpt) --by Rumi
5 Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches? --by Mary Oliver
6 The Layers --by Stanley Kunitz
7 So Much Happiness --by Naomi Shihab Nye
8 The God Abandons Antony --by C.P. Cavafy
9 Thank You, My Fate --by Anna Swir
10 In Silence --by Thomas Merton

A lovely, contemplative read for those who like poetry and like stopping for some self-inquiry. I will keep my eye out for another title in the "Ten Poems" series. show less