Houses Are Fields: Poems

by Taije Silverman

Taije Silverman's debut collection chronicles her family's devotion and dissolution through the death of her mother. Ranging in style from measured narratives to fragmented lyrics that convey the ambiguity of loss, these poems both arc into the past and question the possibility of the future, exploring the ways in which memory at once sustains and fails love. Ultimately the poems are elegies not only to one beloved mother, but to the large and diffusive presences of Keats, Mandelstam, a concentration camp near Prague, a coming-of-age on a Greek island, and the nearly traceless particles of neutrinos that--as with each detail toward which the poet lends her attention -- become precious as the mother departs from her position at the center of the world. Furious, redemptive, and deeply immediate, Houses are Fields is a beautifully moving first book.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2009

Reviews

[Kasey Jueds · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful poems that aren't afraid to be beautiful.

[Niel Rosenthalis · Rating 5 out of 5]

if you're wondering whether to buy/read the book, google and read "poem to keep what I love."

[Ashly Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like I should flag books that I've added to my TBR because they deal with dead moms so I don't go into them being blindsided lol. Anyway, this book is very raw and emotional and explores grief and loss in a beautiful way.

I would definitely recommend this for anyone who has lost someone close to them, though the content can be a little overwhelming at times and seems to relentlessly pursue this entire collection.

Some of the pieces feel more disjointed, with incomplete phrasing and scattered lines, which does not usually speak to me poetically. I totally appreciate the sentiment in these pieces as grief and loss are very incomplete and scattered, but it did weaken the collection a little for me.

[Anatoly Molotkov · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You can't see// where things end. There must be more space/ than you'd ever expected.//Past the bricks in the mantel, on the other side/ of the couch, where the dark starts.// There must be more space." In her brilliant collection, Taije Silverman examines the many ways in which things don't end. Masterfully done.

[Marjorie Elwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

These are such delicate, never heavy-handed poems about the loss of her mother to brain cancer. They spurred in me moments of recognition: "Yes, that's what it's like when your mother is dying!". Beautifully written.

[Ann Garth]

Every time I read poetry I think "I should give up on reading poetry" and then I never do. Perhaps this sign of persistence is a good thing? I'll choose to think of it that way, at least. Hope springs eternal!

[DilanAc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful poems that depict the experience of watching her mother die from cancer. These will resonate with anyone who has experienced the loss of a loved one.

[Elizabeth Theriot · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most gorgeous poetry collections I’ve read in a while! The mourning feels so immediate and real. The language is consistently beautiful: “I want to ask the air, then, how a love/ so skilled at longing can become/ enough”