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Ten Poems to Say Goodbye
In Ten Poems to Say Goodbye, the newest addition to the celebrated Ten Poems series, Roger Housden continues to highlight the magic of poetry, this time as it relates to personal loss. But while the selected poems in this volume may focus upon loss and grief, they also reflect solace, respite, and joy. A goodbye is an opportunity for kindness, for forgiveness, for intimacy, and ultimately for love and a deepening acceptance of life as it is rather than what it was. Goodbyes can be poignant, sorrowful, sometimes a relief, and€”now and then€”even an occasion for joy. They are always transitions that, when embraced, can be the door to a new life both for ourselves and for others. In this inspiring and consoling volume, Housden encourages readers to embrace poetry as a way of enabling us to better see and appreciate the beauty of the world around and within us.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2012
26 people are currently reading
138 people want to read
About the author
Roger Housden
41 books121 followersRoger Housden is the author of some twenty books of non fiction, including the best selling Ten Poems series. His new book, SAVED BY BEAUTY: ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN ROMANTIC IN IRAN, comes out on May 17 2011 with Broadway Books.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
May 3, 2017
The first time I read this book, I was disappointed. Quite a few of the poems were familiar to me, and I thought the introduction somewhat pretentious. Then I picked it up again, to make my notes before returning it to the library. Somehow, in that few weeks interval, the book either greatly improved or else it was me who needed to slow down and read again the simple words of deeply felt wisdom in RH's intro, and all of the poems, to come to a fresh appreciation.
as I feel and know more deeply the passing nature of all things...the moments that remain to me, starting with this one, take on a deeper texture and reality.
from the intro
Poetry reminds me of what I know and often forget. Poetry speaks for me when my own tongue cannot...can coax from the shadows of my heart those feelings whose existence I may even have been afraid to admit to. p12
as I feel and know more deeply the passing nature of all things...the moments that remain to me, starting with this one, take on a deeper texture and reality.
from the intro
Poetry reminds me of what I know and often forget. Poetry speaks for me when my own tongue cannot...can coax from the shadows of my heart those feelings whose existence I may even have been afraid to admit to. p12
June 20, 2012
“Your experience is not yours alone” kim addonizio.
Roger Housden quotes this in one of the book chapters and for me it was the greatest message of the book – both as a writer and as a reader. We are not alone in the universe, in this life. What ever it is we are feeling or going through someone else has experienced or is experiencing too. As a reader I find it a relief and as a writer I find it helping in remembering that I can rely on my own experiences within my writing. Even the most personal writing holds in it something which will talk with some reader.
In ten poems to say goodbye (124 p. Harmony Books, 2012) Roger Housden is working through a set of ten poems to discuss different goodbyes in our lives; from loss of a lover to death and everything in between and under it.
Before I received the book for a review I wasn’t aware of the Ten Poems series, all dealing with different stages or experiences in our lives. When I held the book and started reading I wasn’t sure what should I learn from such a personal and somewhat “new-age” look into these poems. Of course, when I say New-age I think about some spiritual, philosophical psychological trends and the term itself might repulse some people, including myself at times. But the fact that something is trendy doesn’t mean there is no truth and value in it.
This is were I return to the opening quote in this review. Housden thoughts and explanations of the poems, combine with the poems themselves, holds something for me too and through is thoughts I have learned something new not only the poems in the book but also about myself.
I particularly enjoyed two poems: How it will Happen, When by Dorianne Laux, and Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen.
“you don’t recognize, a simple word like cup or gate or wisp
and you’ll ponder over it like a child discovering language.
Cup, you’ll say it over and over until it begins to make sense
and that’s when you’ll say it, for the first time, out loud: He’s dead.”
Housden says: “Time stops and utterly familiar becomes utterly strange… Because it is then that she can say for the first time out loud the words that she could never have embraced and fully understood before:.
This all might be clear to some who are familiar with Laux’s life and work but for me, through these points, Housden reveals something of the human nature to me. That something lies in the poems themselves, but where are some works that speaks to me directly some others need the a mediator who will through the stone themselves into our well and move the water.
Alexandra Leaving was for me the most familiar poem in the book and as such I have set it as bar to see what new I can learn. I wasn’t disappointed.
Housden relates the poem to The God Abandons Anthony by the Greek poet Cavafy, and by doing so adds yet more universality and timelessness to the poem and the experiences in it.
In the introduction for the book Housden says that the “spirit of these ten poems, and the hope of this book” is to “say goodbye with all our heart is to turn a parting into a blessing”. I think Housden succeed both in enlightening new aspects in the poems and in showing this little, almost invisible, thread that connects all of us.
Roger Housden quotes this in one of the book chapters and for me it was the greatest message of the book – both as a writer and as a reader. We are not alone in the universe, in this life. What ever it is we are feeling or going through someone else has experienced or is experiencing too. As a reader I find it a relief and as a writer I find it helping in remembering that I can rely on my own experiences within my writing. Even the most personal writing holds in it something which will talk with some reader.
In ten poems to say goodbye (124 p. Harmony Books, 2012) Roger Housden is working through a set of ten poems to discuss different goodbyes in our lives; from loss of a lover to death and everything in between and under it.
Before I received the book for a review I wasn’t aware of the Ten Poems series, all dealing with different stages or experiences in our lives. When I held the book and started reading I wasn’t sure what should I learn from such a personal and somewhat “new-age” look into these poems. Of course, when I say New-age I think about some spiritual, philosophical psychological trends and the term itself might repulse some people, including myself at times. But the fact that something is trendy doesn’t mean there is no truth and value in it.
This is were I return to the opening quote in this review. Housden thoughts and explanations of the poems, combine with the poems themselves, holds something for me too and through is thoughts I have learned something new not only the poems in the book but also about myself.
I particularly enjoyed two poems: How it will Happen, When by Dorianne Laux, and Alexandra Leaving by Leonard Cohen.
“you don’t recognize, a simple word like cup or gate or wisp
and you’ll ponder over it like a child discovering language.
Cup, you’ll say it over and over until it begins to make sense
and that’s when you’ll say it, for the first time, out loud: He’s dead.”
Housden says: “Time stops and utterly familiar becomes utterly strange… Because it is then that she can say for the first time out loud the words that she could never have embraced and fully understood before:.
This all might be clear to some who are familiar with Laux’s life and work but for me, through these points, Housden reveals something of the human nature to me. That something lies in the poems themselves, but where are some works that speaks to me directly some others need the a mediator who will through the stone themselves into our well and move the water.
Alexandra Leaving was for me the most familiar poem in the book and as such I have set it as bar to see what new I can learn. I wasn’t disappointed.
Housden relates the poem to The God Abandons Anthony by the Greek poet Cavafy, and by doing so adds yet more universality and timelessness to the poem and the experiences in it.
In the introduction for the book Housden says that the “spirit of these ten poems, and the hope of this book” is to “say goodbye with all our heart is to turn a parting into a blessing”. I think Housden succeed both in enlightening new aspects in the poems and in showing this little, almost invisible, thread that connects all of us.
January 8, 2020
I needed poetry this weekend and rather than looking around my own library, I went to Barnes & Noble. Most of the fiction I read any more is via Kindle or Audible. However, for me, poetry still is best served on paper in a "real" book.
I spent two days on my screened porch reading this. I have liked Housdon's other compilations and this did not disappoint. I especially liked the inclusion of Leonard Cohen and also listened to the song version of that particular poem.
As I prepare to send my only child away to college and as my own senior years approach (or perhaps are here, depending on one's perspective and certain unknowns about life itself), I was craving an immersion in words on life with a view toward endings and loss. Given the subject, this collection is life-affirming. They also present a variety of vistas to explore the questions that arise when we give ourselves time to sit, think, and breathe.
I spent two days on my screened porch reading this. I have liked Housdon's other compilations and this did not disappoint. I especially liked the inclusion of Leonard Cohen and also listened to the song version of that particular poem.
As I prepare to send my only child away to college and as my own senior years approach (or perhaps are here, depending on one's perspective and certain unknowns about life itself), I was craving an immersion in words on life with a view toward endings and loss. Given the subject, this collection is life-affirming. They also present a variety of vistas to explore the questions that arise when we give ourselves time to sit, think, and breathe.
September 15, 2012
Poetry is something that I want to read but I end up giving up because I don't feel I'm really understanding what the poet is saying. I loved that Roger Housden takes a poem and breaks it down both in context of the language and the poet's life. I'm looking forward to buying more of his Ten Poems series.
This was a nice selection of poems about death, leaving a lover, watching a child leave. They were all very touching and in some cases gut wrenching in their feelings of loss.
This was a nice selection of poems about death, leaving a lover, watching a child leave. They were all very touching and in some cases gut wrenching in their feelings of loss.
September 17, 2017
The poem below is a plum.
IF YOU KNEW by Ellen Bass
What if you knew you’d be the last
to touch someone?
If you were taking tickets, for example,
at the theater, tearing them,
giving back the ragged stubs,
you might take care to touch that palm,
brush your fingertips
along the life line’s crease.
When a man pulls his wheeled suitcase
too slowly through the airport,
when the car in front of me doesn’t signal,
when the clerk at the pharmacy
won’t say Thank you, I don’t remember
they’re going to die.
A friend told me she’d been with her aunt.
They’d just had lunch and the waiter,
a young gay man with plum black eyes,
joked as he served the coffee,
kissed her aunt’s powdered cheek when they left.
Then they walked half a block and her aunt
dropped dead on the sidewalk.
How close does the dragon’s spume
have to come? How wide does the crack
in heaven have to split?
What would people look like
if we could see them as they are,
soaked in honey, stung and swollen,
reckless, pinned against time?
IF YOU KNEW by Ellen Bass
What if you knew you’d be the last
to touch someone?
If you were taking tickets, for example,
at the theater, tearing them,
giving back the ragged stubs,
you might take care to touch that palm,
brush your fingertips
along the life line’s crease.
When a man pulls his wheeled suitcase
too slowly through the airport,
when the car in front of me doesn’t signal,
when the clerk at the pharmacy
won’t say Thank you, I don’t remember
they’re going to die.
A friend told me she’d been with her aunt.
They’d just had lunch and the waiter,
a young gay man with plum black eyes,
joked as he served the coffee,
kissed her aunt’s powdered cheek when they left.
Then they walked half a block and her aunt
dropped dead on the sidewalk.
How close does the dragon’s spume
have to come? How wide does the crack
in heaven have to split?
What would people look like
if we could see them as they are,
soaked in honey, stung and swollen,
reckless, pinned against time?
November 25, 2019
I enjoyed the format of poem and essay again. And, as with the other volume I read recently, I didn’t find all the poems landed with me. But four I did enjoy were:
- If you knew by Ellen Bass
- How it will happen, when by Dorianne Laux
- Waving Goodbye by Gerald Stern
- Those winter Sunday’s by Robert Hayden
I suspect that these are the most literal poems. The ones that don’t feel inaccessible to me, that don’t intimidate me, that don’t make me feel the need to approach them as I would a cryptic crossword. Where I can get a feel without having to interpret.
- If you knew by Ellen Bass
- How it will happen, when by Dorianne Laux
- Waving Goodbye by Gerald Stern
- Those winter Sunday’s by Robert Hayden
I suspect that these are the most literal poems. The ones that don’t feel inaccessible to me, that don’t intimidate me, that don’t make me feel the need to approach them as I would a cryptic crossword. Where I can get a feel without having to interpret.
March 1, 2018
Some of the authors were new to me, which was nice.
February 18, 2020
Loved this book, but then I love poetry. The author's brief comments only add to the enjoyment of these wonderful poems.
August 31, 2020
Enjoyed the poems and some of the history lessons, but not all the analyses.
December 2, 2020
Beautiful poems I read because my brother had died. Each one touches on different kind of grief.
November 22, 2021
The poems were good, I didn't care as much for the commentary.
October 15, 2022
I liked most of the poems. Some of them weren't my vibe
March 15, 2015
As with the first book in this series (I didn't read any of the ones in between the first and last), I liked the poems Housden chose and the info about the poets but felt that the essays on the poems tended to over-explain them. There were a few pearls to be found here and there, but, having now looked at two of these "Ten Poems" books, I probably won't try any of the others.
I checked this one out of the library, in part, because I thought the first one was a noble effort and subsequent volumes might show what I consider to be improvement. In fairness, I think it did, but I continue to feel that poetry is poetry rather than prose for a reason. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be be discussed or that it isn't helpful to offer context or have some references explained, but it feels presumptuous to point blank say (over and over) that the poet meant __________. If the poet says that's what he or she means, fine, but if not...
I also chose this volume because I've lost both parents to serious illness in the last two years, so the subject matter was of particular interest. I'm glad to have spent time with these poems even if the essays weren't quite what I had hoped for.
20 or 30 years ago, I might have appreciated these books as a bridge into a genre of writing I've never felt competent to interpret. Today, I'm learning to sit with what the poet/author has to say for a while, even when I don't fully understand it, rather than reflexively searching for some sort of translation.
I checked this one out of the library, in part, because I thought the first one was a noble effort and subsequent volumes might show what I consider to be improvement. In fairness, I think it did, but I continue to feel that poetry is poetry rather than prose for a reason. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be be discussed or that it isn't helpful to offer context or have some references explained, but it feels presumptuous to point blank say (over and over) that the poet meant __________. If the poet says that's what he or she means, fine, but if not...
I also chose this volume because I've lost both parents to serious illness in the last two years, so the subject matter was of particular interest. I'm glad to have spent time with these poems even if the essays weren't quite what I had hoped for.
20 or 30 years ago, I might have appreciated these books as a bridge into a genre of writing I've never felt competent to interpret. Today, I'm learning to sit with what the poet/author has to say for a while, even when I don't fully understand it, rather than reflexively searching for some sort of translation.
August 19, 2013
This is a Good Reads First Reads giveaway book.
I wasn't sure what to expect giving the title "Ten Poems to Say Goodbye". I initially imagined a book filled with poems by the author. I was not familiar with Roger Housden's work which includes other books of theme oriented poems. This book is a compilation of selected poems by several authors. Mr. Housden gives his interpretation of each literary piece providing background on the writer and offering his explanation of how the words can provide solace to those seeking it after a loss. As Roger Housden states so keenly, "We have to say goodbye to everything eventually, and life is punctuated with a thousand goodbyes, some greater, some smaller, all along the way. And yet all too often, we can't find the words to say goodbye.". He continues to explain that "good poetry is not merely a few thoughtful words to fill an awkward moment." He effectively describes how poetry can "reach down into the depths of our humanity" to capture the "essence of our existence". I found this book to be "user-friendly", in that, you don't need to be an English Professor to relate or understand the poems as they are followed by eloquent words expressing comfort to the person seeking deeper understanding to the meaning of loss.
Http://bookwormreviewblog.blogspot.com
I wasn't sure what to expect giving the title "Ten Poems to Say Goodbye". I initially imagined a book filled with poems by the author. I was not familiar with Roger Housden's work which includes other books of theme oriented poems. This book is a compilation of selected poems by several authors. Mr. Housden gives his interpretation of each literary piece providing background on the writer and offering his explanation of how the words can provide solace to those seeking it after a loss. As Roger Housden states so keenly, "We have to say goodbye to everything eventually, and life is punctuated with a thousand goodbyes, some greater, some smaller, all along the way. And yet all too often, we can't find the words to say goodbye.". He continues to explain that "good poetry is not merely a few thoughtful words to fill an awkward moment." He effectively describes how poetry can "reach down into the depths of our humanity" to capture the "essence of our existence". I found this book to be "user-friendly", in that, you don't need to be an English Professor to relate or understand the poems as they are followed by eloquent words expressing comfort to the person seeking deeper understanding to the meaning of loss.
Http://bookwormreviewblog.blogspot.com
February 27, 2013
I liked poem 6, "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden. Some others I read were more obscure. Not in the mood for obscure poetry, nor a lengthy exposition to go along with it. I think I'd like it better if I were in the mood to study poetry rather than needing to be moved. "Waving Goodbye" was good.
May 27, 2012
Hard to give a book with incredible poetry less than 4 stars. Housden's readings are fine; we all have our own readings to bring to each of the poems contained herein. Finally found the solace I was seeking in Leonard Cohen's (!) "Alexandra Leaving" .
June 8, 2014
My heart needed this poetry. I'm so glad that TED talk led me to seek out poetry, and I stumbled upon these poems of goodbyes. It gave my grief wings. It filled my heart with love and hope and acceptance. I look forward to blogging about these poems and all that they taught me.
May 4, 2015
I'm new to reading poetry and read this volume of poetry because each poem was followed by an essay, which I found helpful. I liked some of the poems more than others, and I have a few names of poets from this collection that I will seek out for future reading on my own.
March 2, 2012
I've had some personal losses recently and this book really helped with my grieving process.
I recieived this as an uncorrected proof from www.goodreads.com
I recieived this as an uncorrected proof from www.goodreads.com
March 15, 2012
Received as a Good Reads Giveaway.
I liked the book, just wish there were more. My favorite poem was Love Sonnet XCIV by Pablo Neruda.
I liked the book, just wish there were more. My favorite poem was Love Sonnet XCIV by Pablo Neruda.
June 24, 2013
Excellent book. Housden explores the world of death, grief and letting go through the lens of ten poems. Power presentation and insight.
February 25, 2015
I'm struck to the heart. This book might change lives. If nothing else you will feel, deeply. Especially insightful for the words that are hard to find in dark places... Illuminating and inspiring.
January 15, 2016
Housden has a unique ability to find absolutely wonderful poetry and to give full and intersting commentary about what he discovers in each poem.
Read
October 10, 2016Some good poems but not as electrifying as The Ten Poems to Change Your Life.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews