Milosz, Czeslaw:  A Book of Luminous Things (An International Anthology of Poetry)

A truly international collection, this book contains wonderful, accessible poems with an emphasis on excellent poets that aren’t household names, although many of my favorite 20th century poets are represented.  Walt Whitman is also well represented and I’m reminded that I must read LEAVES OF GRASS soon (as a challenge book!?).  I was especially pleased with so many entries from ancient Asian (especially Chinese) poets, an area with which I am not as familiar.

The poems are grouped by categories such as People, Places, Travel, etc. and Milosz has an introductory comment on most of them.  I preferred to read the poem before I read the comment so I could compare my reaction to his.   Now that I have read the entire collection, I would like to have 2 copies–one for my guest room bookshelf and one to keep in my night table when I want to find something soothing and lovely to read before falling asleep.

The following example is by one of my favorite poets and reminds me of when I lived in Savannah, Georgia, one of my favorite places. Sometimes I was privileged to see these magnificent birds:

THE KINGFISHER

The Kingfisher rises out of the black wave

like a blue flower, in his beak

he carries a silver leaf, I think this is

the prettiest world-so long as you don’t mind

a little dying, how could there be a day in your whole life

that doesn’t have its splash of happiness?

There are more fish than there are leaves

on a thousand trees, and anyway the kingfisher

wasn’t born to think about it, or anything else.

When the wave snaps shut over his blue head, the water

remains water-hunger is the only story

he has ever heard in his life that he could believe.

I don’t say he’s right.  Neither

do I say he’s wrong.  Religiously he swallows the silver leaf

with its broken red river, and with a rough and easy cry

I couldn’t rouse out of my thoughtful body

if my life depended on it, he swings back

over the bright sea to do the same thing, to do it

(as I long to do something, anything) perfectly.

Fadiman, Anne:  At Large and At Small

A second book of essays by the author of Ex Libris, this book is meant to be read slowly and savored.  I managed to do this for a couple of weeks but then I got impatient and “gobbled” the last half of the book in one evening.  However, that gives me the excuse to reread this in the not too distant future. The range of topics is wider in this collection although there are essays that mention books, authors and libraries.  Two of my “favorite things”, ice cream and coffee, each has an essay of its own.  Reading Fadiman is a pleasure, a learning experience (she is full of tidbits of interesting information) and a vocabulary enhancer-be sure to have a dictionary handy!  This was a gift from Tucker and Valerie last Christmas.