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The Chain Letter of the Soul: New and Selected Poems
by
Bill Holm
Throughout his life and in his writing, Bill Holm was a humanist whose obsessions included mortality and eternity. He paid special attention to the notion of cycles, patterns, movements, and processes, and many of his most moving poems are dedicated to the friends and family he helped through the last stages of their lives. Collecting the best and most recent poems from Ho...more
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
October 27th 2009
by Milkweed Editions
(first published 2009)
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I love Bill Holm! Ever since I heard him read this poem "Advice" at a meeting at the New York Public Library when I was a young librarian there, I was hooked:
Someone dancing inside us
learned only a few steps:
the "Do-Your-Work" in 4/4 time,
the "What-Do-You-Expect" waltz.
He hasn't noticed yet the woman
standing away from the lamp,
the one with black eyes
who knows the rhumba,
and strange steps in jumpy rhythms
from the mountains in Bulgaria.
If they dance together,
something unexpected will ha...more
Someone dancing inside us
learned only a few steps:
the "Do-Your-Work" in 4/4 time,
the "What-Do-You-Expect" waltz.
He hasn't noticed yet the woman
standing away from the lamp,
the one with black eyes
who knows the rhumba,
and strange steps in jumpy rhythms
from the mountains in Bulgaria.
If they dance together,
something unexpected will ha...more
I had to create a whole new shelf in goodreads for this book, which says something about how often I read poetry. I enjoyed this collection, it read very bleak to me, but also very pointed. Bill Holm seems to have a way of writing powerful ideas with a homespun style. My favorite poem was about addictions, and how they creep into you in your sleep, so even if you're straight and sober awake, your fingers will betray you for their fix.
A strong and interesting collection of poetry, recommended if...more
A strong and interesting collection of poetry, recommended if...more
There are two ways to read Bill Holm:
Let the poems wash over you
like a pretty sunset, not
trying to understand it,
just accepting it as is.
Or, upon waking in the night,
bleary-eyed,
read a few poems, then
go back to sleep thinking:
that guy is crazy--
driven mad by swarms
of boxelder bugs, the need
for Beethoven, and the Seussian
rhubarb forests of Iceland.
Let the poems wash over you
like a pretty sunset, not
trying to understand it,
just accepting it as is.
Or, upon waking in the night,
bleary-eyed,
read a few poems, then
go back to sleep thinking:
that guy is crazy--
driven mad by swarms
of boxelder bugs, the need
for Beethoven, and the Seussian
rhubarb forests of Iceland.
Midwest Booksellers Choice Award
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Bill Holm was an American poet, essayist, memoirist, and musician.
Holm was born on a farm north of Minneota, Minnesota, the grandson of Icelandic immigrants. He attended Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota where he graduated in 1965. Later, he attended the University of Kansas.
Holm won a Fulbright and went to Iceland for a year, which stretched into longer. He continued to visit I...more
More about Bill Holm...
Holm was born on a farm north of Minneota, Minnesota, the grandson of Icelandic immigrants. He attended Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota where he graduated in 1965. Later, he attended the University of Kansas.
Holm won a Fulbright and went to Iceland for a year, which stretched into longer. He continued to visit I...more
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