I don't spend a lot of money on poetry books for myself. I enjoy poetry but I am not one to sit down with an entire book of poems. I have a few but I am picky about the ones I choose to own. One of my very favorites is TEN POEMS TO LAST A LIFETIME by Roger Housden. I picked this up years ago when I was at a conference and I have gone back to it several times since. I love the whole concept of the books and the ways that the poems were chosen. In the introduction to this book (which alone is worth every penny that you pay for the entire book), Housden says, "Surely, if something, anything is to sustain your attention, your passion, over a lifetime, it must have the capacity to reveal layers of meaning and value in ever-fresh and unexpected ways."
These are poems that you want to keep coming back to. There are poems by Billy Collins, Naomis Shihab Nye, Mary Oliver and others. Each poem is followed by an essay by the author in which he reflects on the poem and the meaning it has for him.
This is one of the Ten Poems series and this is my favorite:-)
Neat. Is it really just ten poems and no more? The poets included sound fabulous, and I'd love to read their thoughts on their work. Thanks for the tip. Gonna see if my library has it.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of just ten, in this age where we're all tempted to do things that are more and more ambitious...
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