Otherwise: New & Selected Poems

Jane Kenyon, along with her husband, Donald Hall, are two of my favorite poets. Both write concrete, accessible verse that communicates the universal through their particular experience. In this collection, Kenyon's newest poems were written after her diagnosis of the cancer that eventually killed her. She suffers greatly, but strives to find the good in a horrible situation. Her struggle is heartbreaking, sad, yet beautiful. It may not replace the beauty of Heaven and ultimate redemption, but Kenyon holds on to the beauty of the earth, of her rural surroundings, of her love for Donald and his love for her, of the ultimate goodness of the world despite the fact that she would wish it otherwise. All of us would wish that sickness, and show more death, especially a death before old age sets in, would be otherwise. Yet the world is not otherwise, and Kenyon accepts that with grace and dignity is these beautiful poems. This is a book for every human being, since every human being has suffered, will suffer, or is suffering. I highly recommend it. show less

Some books of poetry one can read from start to finish. Not this one. I don't know why. Seems better to sample.

Kenyon's providing some writerly comfort, or at least understanding: https://zwieblein.bearblog.dev/trying-to-believe-in-writerly-belonging/