Oblique Prayers

I got this collection because I was really floored by a poem from it, however upon rereading I couldn't place which poem it was. Levertov vacillates between metaphysical musing and relaying more concrete social realities and concerns. The space where these overlap captured my interest most, however there were not as many of these moments as I would've hoped for.

So there I was, standing in the poetry section of the library, with no more idea what I was doing there or looking for other than the resolution to "read more poetry" running through my mind. I'd done no research, I'd put no poetry on my hold list, I was just standing there, hoping for inspiration to jump out at me. A few books were picked up and placed back, on the grounds that they were giant anthologies, and my stack for checking out was already towering to a ridiculous height. Finally, I saw this book, and recognizing Levertov from my Panhala poetry email list, I grabbed it and moved on.

When I first started reading, it was clear that I'd forgotten how to read poetry. I kept finishing poems and thinking, "Okay, that was nice, but show more what was the point?" But soon I was drawn in by the steel hooks in the section "Prisoners," about the horrors of brutal regimes in South America, massacres in the name of religions in the Middle East, the proliferation of nuclear weapons... but before we lose hope, Levertov reassures us with her translations of Jean Joubert's poetry from the French, and a final, more lyrical section, "Of God and of the Gods."

While this probably is not a book I'll feel compelled to own, it did reaffirm my resolution to read more poetry. show less

Smart and graceful, Levertov's poems are meditations on what is possible in a world of compassion, and what comprises darkness in the same. As ever, her language is drenched in lyrical grace, and seemingly effortless. Some of the poems here are spiritual, some concrete. Some of them are difficult and striking, others straightforward. All together, though, the collections rings with soulful engagement with the world, and any poetry reader will find something to love here.

Well worth the read.

Yale - notes in Poetry file Bay _