Present Company

by W.S. Merwin

“The intentions of Merwin’s poetry are as broad as the biosphere yet as intimate as a whisper. He conveys in the sweet simplicity of grounded language a sense of the self where it belongs, floating between heaven, earth, and underground.”—The Atlantic Monthly

“W.S. Merwin is our strongest poet.”—The New York Times Review of Books

In this new masterwork from one of America’s foremost poets, W.S. Merwin guides his readers to universal themes through worldly specifics. Akin to Neruda’s Elemental Odes, every poem in Present Company directly addresses the people and things of daily life, as in “To the Thief at the Airport” or “To Lingering Regrets.”

To This May

They know so much more now about
the heart we are told but the world
still seems to come one at a time
one day one year one season and here
it is spring once more with its birds
nesting in the holes in the walls
its morning finding the first time
its light pretending not to move
always beginning as it goes

These poems to the world are playful, deadly serious, and full of wonder. Whether writing of an unused vehicle in “To Zbigniew Herbert’s Bicycle” or watching fireworks from a distance in “To the Coming Winter,” Merwin’s poems create a rare and compelling intimacy. There is no one writing today like W.S. Merwin.

Poet and translator W.S. Merwin has long been committed to artistic, political, and environmental causes in both word and deed. He has received nearly every major literary accolade, including the Pulitzer, Tanning, Lannan, and Bollingen prizes. His most recent award is the International Golden Wreath from the Struga Foundation, a longstanding literary honor that, in its 70-year history, has been offered to only three English-speaking poets. W.S. Merwin lives in Hawaii, where he cultivates endangered palms.

Genres: Poetry

120 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

William Stanley Merwin was an American poet, credited with over fifty books of poetry, translation and prose.

William Stanley Merwin (September 30, 1927 – March 15, 2019) was an American poet who wrote more than fifty books of poetry and prose, and produced many works in translation. During the 1960s anti-war movement, Merwin's unique craft was thematically characterized by indirect, unpunctuated narration. In the 1980s and 1990s, his writing influence derived from an interest in Buddhist philosophy and deep ecology. Residing in a rural part of Maui, Hawaii, he wrote prolifically and was dedicated to the restoration of the island's rainforests.

Merwin received many honors, including the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971 and 2009; the National Book Award for Poetry in 2005, and the Tanning Prize—one of the highest honors bestowed by the Academy of American Poets—as well as the Golden Wreath of the Struga Poetry Evenings. In 2010, the Library of Congress named him the 17th United States Poet Laureate.

Reviews

[William2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are odes, songs of praise, but without the high flown style. The language is flat. The poems use conversational voice in various deft ways that fall beautifully on the page. All the poems are in second person. As in To Purity, “I have heard so much about you,” or in To the Face in the Mirror, “because you keep turning toward me…” Beautiful and spare. Hardly a misstep among the 100 poems in this collection. As always in Merwin, magnificently sustained.

[Joanna]

I am so excited about this book of poems, because for years now I've seen Merwin publishing in journals poems with titles of "To ________" and had a hunch that he was going to do a collection entirely of these "To ..." poems, and while browsing the bookstore yesterday I came upon it and I was right! Satisfaction. I bought it immediately.

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the "To" formula a bit contrived and even condescending. It was like he was sitting in a room looking around for whatever object caught his eye and would then compose a "poem" TO it.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Whatever we say
we know there is another
language under this one"
He was the master.

[Debbie Robson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As the dust jacket says: "…every poem in Present Company directly addresses the human encounters and ordinary objects of daily life, as in "To the Face in the Mirror" or "To Salt". A lot of the poems are dedicated to things and events that I think most of us wouldn't have thought of writing a poem to.
The language in these poems is deceptively simple, the poems themselves free of punctuation and clean of line but don't be fooled! There is magic hiding behind simplicity as in these lines from "To the Soul":

Is anyone there
if so
are you real
either way are you
one or several
if the latter
are you all at once
or do you
take turns not answering…

Favourite poems:
To the Shadow
To the Unlikely Event - all time favourite!
To Lili's Walk
To the Consolation of Philosophy
To Prose
To My Brother
To the Book
Highly recommended. A very different read!

[Trish Lindsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

While I would read and cherish anything that W.S. Merwin writes, this, to me, is one of his best collections of poems. The entire collection is comprised of apostrophe poems (first-person poems addressed to a specific person, idea, or thing--concrete or abstraction). Each poem is about as concise as a poem can be yet packed with layer upon layer of meaning.
One of my favorites is "To the Margin." It speaks of the love of text, words--both for writers and readers.

The poems are so humble, so simple in their discourse, that one will be stunned by their connotative depth. THE BEST!

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sigh. I know he's considered to be a great poet. I'm sure it's just me. But I cannot seem to read WSM. I try, start out with great enthusiasm, and then my eyes glaze.

[Jillian · Rating 2 out of 5]

There are W. S. Merwin poems that I love, but none of them are in this volume.

I don't like the 'To...' structure.

[Aline Soules · Rating 5 out of 5]

This poet is amazing. I've loved his work for years and this collection is one of his best. The language flows effortlessly, and his understanding of the world deepens with every poem.

[Humphrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was a bit disappointed by this Merwin collection after several enjoyable ones. I think the ode form is limiting with Merwin's style: the combination of its singular addressee with his brief phrases tends to produce narrowly specific poems, which can end up ringing too cute. The collection is also a bit baggy: more than twice as long as Shadow of Sirius. I did like To Absence, To the Beginning of Rain, To Smoke.

[Liam Strong · Rating 3 out of 5]

*big shrug*

[Sherry Chandler · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read Merwin poems here and there as I've run across them but, for some reason, this is the first of his books that I've read.

This collection of odes to everything but the kitchen sink can't help but bring Neruda's odes to mind and that is unfortunate because Merwin's poems are lacking Neruda's serious whimsy; and if there is a lot of humor here, I've missed it. Which is possible. I do sometimes miss humor.

I read to page 78 before I found, in a poem called "To the Light of September" some lines that enticed me:

yet with a glint
of bronze in the chill mornings
and the late yellow petals
of the mullein fluttering
on the stalks that lean
over their broken
shadows across the cracked ground

After that I found a few more with lines I want to keep in my mind. "To the Fire" dwells on the paradoxical nature of that element:

you at whose touch
everything changes
you who never change

"To the Moss" contains this mini portrait of the wren:

the wren felt she knew most of that before
there were breasts or cheeks and she made out of
living bits of you the globe of her nest
as though that was what you had grown there for

There were a few others but for the most part I found these poems enigmatic without mystery.

(I'd like to reiterate that the range I use in rating poetry is 4 & 5.)

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

To Present Company

You are here with me
listening to the music
of the birds and the water
seeing things as they are
by the light of the moon
and the stars and the sun
Thank you for picking
this book from the tree

by Paul Hsu 10-5-15

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read much Merwin before this. I enjoyed some of the poems very much, once I learned to read them, and it felt like Merwin taught me to read them through the poems themselves. Without punctuation, they are like little puzzles the reader has to piece together.

[Russ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Merwin uses This book to reach out--every poem starts with to...
an interesting no punctuation form
very open--it reminds me of Kenneth Koch's addresses--the poems are all at something

[Marik Casmon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This award-winning collection of poetic apostrophes is yet another indication that W.S. Merwin's poetry is getting better and better as he moves into his late 70s and early 80s.

[Dman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another superlative book of poems from Bill Merwin. I think his main strength (in all his poetry) is the ability to grasp and convey vast connections within a simple statement. I love his work.

[Leonard · Rating 5 out of 5]

More original and moving poetry from Merwin. Creative and inspiring.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 M576p 2005