Poetry to Heal Your Blues

by Marilyn Hacker

It can be hard to share your pain with others when the words for such raw emotions seem impossible to express. When you're deep into the blues, and your world feels dark, find a quiet place, open the pages of this beautiful book, and let the healing power of poetry pour into your soul. What you will discover in this wonderful collection are 100 poems that will take your blues away. They have been chosen with care and thought from the abundant resources of American and international writing. Favorite poets of the past such as Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Wallace Stevens stand alongside the newer voices of Robert Bly, Louise Glick, W.S. Merwin, Pablo Neruda, Galway Kinnell, Jane Kenyon, Donald Hall, Marilyn Hacker, Dorianne Laux, James Wright, and others. Though they all speak with different voices, these poets find their own, miraculous words to expose pain and through this exposure, heal it.

Genres: Poetry, Mental Health

160 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2005

About the author

Marilyn Hacker is an American poet, translator, critic, and professor of English.

Her books of poetry include Presentation Piece (1974), which won the National Book Award, Love, Death, and the Changing of the Seasons (1986), and Going Back to the River (1990). In 2009, Hacker won the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for King of a Hundred Horsemen by Marie Étienne, which also garnered the first Robert Fagles Translation Prize from the National Poetry Series. In 2010, she received the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. She was shortlisted for the 2013 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for her translation of Tales of A Severed Head by Rachida Madani.

Reviews

[Airiz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marilyn Hacker’s compilation of poems lives up to its title. Poetry to Heal Your Blues is indeed a first-class ticket to a concert of poets from all corners of the globe, their voices blending to produce a resonating harmony that can lift up anyone’s moods. The renowned literary gems produced by Emily Dickinson, John Keats, E.E. Cummings, Robert Graves, Robert Frost, and Percy Bysshe Shelley can be found in this collection, but there are also those that I’ve read for the first time, like Li-Young Lee’s “The hammock,” Yusef Komunyakaa’s “Ecstatic,” and Adam Zagajewski’s “Try to Praise the Mutilated World.” The cast is amazingly exquisite.

While this book can be read in one sitting, I think it’s also enjoyable to read this poem-of-the-day style. I mean, you can’t beat your daily breakfast with fine poetry as a side dish; and nothing’s more calming than a few bits of literary goodness before your trip to dreamland. :) Every piece is beautiful in their own way.

I wish there are more volumes of this.

[Tori · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of poems. I don’t have a lot of experience reading poetry and this collection was a nice introduction to a lot of the famous poetry writers.

[Doris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read for fun.

An eclectic but wonderful blend of various beautiful poems. It included works by some of my favorite poets, such as Billy Collins and e.e. Cummings, but also introduced me to some other names, both classic and contemporary.

I'll definitely be revisiting this collection in the future.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another short book to get me to my 2015 reading goal - I'm shameless! I haven't read this in years and it's such a treat to revisit. Whether you have the blues or not I recommend this chunky little anthology. Reading a few of the selections always leaves me feeling that all's right with the world. Or will be.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eclectic collection of classic and modern poets

[Mayryott · Rating 4 out of 5]

只关注了其中收录的女作，认识了好多身为诗人的她们。
“当生命的元语言是诗”