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Come, Thief
by
Jane Hirshfield (Goodreads Author)
A revelatory, indispensable collection of poems from Jane Hirshfield that centers on beauty, time, and the full embrace of an existence that time cannot help but steal from our arms.
Hirshfield is unsurpassed in her ability to sink into a moment’s essence and exchange something of herself with its finite music—and then, in seemingly simple, inevitable words, to deliver tha...more
Hirshfield is unsurpassed in her ability to sink into a moment’s essence and exchange something of herself with its finite music—and then, in seemingly simple, inevitable words, to deliver tha...more
Hardcover, 112 pages
Published
August 23rd 2011
by Knopf
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Really enjoyed this. Probably my favorite of Hirshfield's collections (at least of what I've read, which is not all). I'm partial to the very short ones that just glitter like gems. Here are three of my favorites.
If Truth Is the Lure, Humans Are Fishes
Under each station of the real,
another glimmers.
And so the love of false-bottomed drawers
and the salt mines outside Kraków,
going down and down without drowning.
A man harms his wife, his child.
He says, “Here is the reason.”
She says, “Here is the r...more
If Truth Is the Lure, Humans Are Fishes
Under each station of the real,
another glimmers.
And so the love of false-bottomed drawers
and the salt mines outside Kraków,
going down and down without drowning.
A man harms his wife, his child.
He says, “Here is the reason.”
She says, “Here is the r...more
Jane Hirshfield
Come, Thief
(New York: Knopf, 2011)
Poet Jane Hirshfield’s new book, Come, Thief, reaches from stillness to the bounding life. As she writes in “The Tongue Says Loneliness,” “this life is not a gate, but the horse plunging through it.” The poems turn in a variety of directions, even at one point, toward Pompeii. Through a variety of forms, Hirshfield asks that readers attend their own worlds to observe both the natural and the manmade in order to learn about humanity. We’re here, sh...more
Come, Thief
(New York: Knopf, 2011)
Poet Jane Hirshfield’s new book, Come, Thief, reaches from stillness to the bounding life. As she writes in “The Tongue Says Loneliness,” “this life is not a gate, but the horse plunging through it.” The poems turn in a variety of directions, even at one point, toward Pompeii. Through a variety of forms, Hirshfield asks that readers attend their own worlds to observe both the natural and the manmade in order to learn about humanity. We’re here, sh...more
Jane Hirshfield is my absolute favorite contemporary poet. And this most recent book is both wise and gorgeous. Her work seems to be becoming quieter, more transparent--and at the same time the poems are still mysterious and strange (in the best possible way), startling and beautiful. I love and admire the way they take in both the very small and daily (cats, sweaters, cups of coffee) and the very large (death, silk roads, Anna Karenina, war, torture)... and I especially love the way they don't...more
This 2011 book of poems is again full of observations and images that reflect
her Buddhist thought. Some even read as a Zen koan. Some poems are a little
odd or awkward in their syntax as if the thought was riddled with contradiction.
Some of her lines break through though and are highly charged. "As this life is
not a gate, but the horse plunging through it." Hirshfield is always good
reading and this book is no exception. It is a bit harder to read though than
some of her others.
her Buddhist thought. Some even read as a Zen koan. Some poems are a little
odd or awkward in their syntax as if the thought was riddled with contradiction.
Some of her lines break through though and are highly charged. "As this life is
not a gate, but the horse plunging through it." Hirshfield is always good
reading and this book is no exception. It is a bit harder to read though than
some of her others.
This is the kind of poetry collection that presents a real problem for me. I can see that these poems are well-crafted, sensitive, perceptive, and thoughtful. I can tell that the author has a good ear for the language and I suspect that she is a deeply kind and spiritual person who is acutely alive to the world around her. I can also predict that I will have completely forgotten about this book approximately seventeen minutes after I finish typing this review. Sigh.
"Although the range of material and features of style are essentially that of her earlier work—that is, not developmentally new—Jane Hirshfield’s latest book of poetry nevertheless offers some of her best poems to date." - Fred Dings, The University of South Carolina
This book was reviewed in the May/June 2012 issue of World Literature Today. You can access the full review by visiting our website: http://worldliteraturetoday.com/2012/...
This book was reviewed in the May/June 2012 issue of World Literature Today. You can access the full review by visiting our website: http://worldliteraturetoday.com/2012/...
I often like Jane Hirshfield's poems, but then I tend to read them out of context, in magazines or journals. As a collection, "Come, Thief" feels too precious, each poem a little jewel of observation. The problem, for me, is that these little jewels pile up and become too cloying, too self-consciously "wise" and after a while, I stop trusting the poet's voice - the poems start to feel as if they're written more by formula and less by real inspiration.
These poems are a hike in the mountains with high peaks like "French Horn" and "When Your Life Looks Back." All are meditations,sparer than I am accustomed to in her work; they invite re-reading. I am especially drawn to "The Pear," 'Washing Doorknobs," and "Seawater Stiffens Cloth."
This is Jane Hirshfield's best book. I can go back to it again and again and each time find something new, whether it's a fresh way of looking at the world or just sheer admiration of her spare but expansive style and incisive eye. I've also happily reviewed it for Poetry Review.
Poetry for the five senses (only).
Intelligent writer and great respect; not my style though.
Intelligent writer and great respect; not my style though.
Will be re-reading and then reading again. Many favorites - too many to mention.
More difficult than earlier books of her work. I'm going to have to read through these poems again. Not necessarily a bad thing, but a surprise. Much work on aging and grief. As one might expect. Very inspiring -- makes me want to write my own poems, with not all work does these days.
Hirshfield is one of my favorite living poets. This collection is inspiring and enlightening. She has a keen command of our language and is a master of imagination. There is a profoundness in every day events and Hirshfield captures it line by line. I will be reading this treasure again and again. Delicious!
Jane Hirshfield blows me away. She has a language all her own.
Hirshfield's poems are as open, inviting, observant, and haunting as ever.
Learn more about the poet in her interview on Words With Writers: http://wordswithwriters.com/2011/12/0...
Learn more about the poet in her interview on Words With Writers: http://wordswithwriters.com/2011/12/0...
This collection from one of my favorite poets just didn't reach out and grab me, except in the case of the following poems:
-Shadow: An Assay
-Seawater Stiffens Cloth
-Wild Plum
-When Your Life Looks Back
-Shadow: An Assay
-Seawater Stiffens Cloth
-Wild Plum
-When Your Life Looks Back
I'm not writing here - but if you're interested, go to Kasey Jued's review of this book. I'd like to just quote her review in full.
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Jane Hirshfield is the author of seven collections of poetry, including Come Thief (Knopf, August 23, 2011), After (HarperCollins, 2006), which was named a “Best Book of 2006” by The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, and England’s Financial Times and shortlisted for England’s T.S. Eliot Award; and Given Sugar, Given Salt (finalist for the 2001 National Book Critics Circle Award); as we...more
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“Everything has two endings-
a horse, a piece of string, a phone call.
Before a life, air.
And after.
As silence is not silence, but a limit of hearing.”
—
9 people liked it
a horse, a piece of string, a phone call.
Before a life, air.
And after.
As silence is not silence, but a limit of hearing.”
“as some strings, untouched,
sound when no one is speaking.
So it was when love slipped inside us.”
—
5 people liked it
More quotes…
sound when no one is speaking.
So it was when love slipped inside us.”
