Synopses & Reviews
A poet of piercing revelations and arresting imagery, Kumin is "unforgettable, indispensable" (). In she muses on mortality: her own and that of the earth. Always deeply personal, always political, these poems blend myth and modernity, fecundity and death, and the violence and tenderness of humankind.
Review
"Exquisite pastorals of her New Hampshire farm mix with politics and echoes of past poets, possessing a directness that makes each piece necessary and vital." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Filled with joy, sorrow, anger, mortality, politics and horses." Tom Lavoie
Review
"Kumin is as graceful and unsparing as ever... One of Kumin's best aspects as a poet was her regard for words, which she held as precious as any other living thing." Shelf Awareness
Review
"Unlike many of her contemporaries, including Anne Sexton, Kumin knew how to trim the deadness around her, letting the life come through for decades... Short the season, but long the legacy." Michael Andor Brodeur Boston Globe
Synopsis
From "Whereof the Gift Is Small"
And short the season, first rubythroat in the fading lilacs, alyssum in bloom a honeybee bumbling in the bleeding hear on my gelding s grave while beetles swar him underground. Wet feet, wet cuffs little flecks of buttercup on my sneaker toes bluets, violets crowding out the tuft of rich new grass the horses nos and nibble like sleepwalkers held fast brittle beauty might this be the last?
"
Synopsis
A poet of piercing revelations and arresting imagery, Kumin is unforgettable, indispensable (
New York Times Book Review). In
And Short the Season she muses on mortality: her own and that of the earth. Always deeply personal, always political, these poems blend myth and modernity, fecundity and death, and the violence and tenderness of humankind.
From Whereof the Gift Is Small
And short the season, first rubythroat
in the fading lilacs, alyssum in bloom,
a honeybee bumbling in the bleeding heart
on my gelding's grave while beetles swarm
him underground. Wet feet, wet cuffs,
little flecks of buttercup on my sneaker toes,
bluets, violets crowding out the tufts
of rich new grass the horses nose
and nibble like sleepwalkers held fast--
brittle beauty--might this be the last?
Synopsis
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet, a stunning collection of poems that course with the rhythms of nature.
About the Author
Maxine Kumin (1925--2014), a former U.S. poet laureate, was the author of nineteen poetry collections as well as numerous works of fiction and nonfiction. Her awards included the Pulitzer Prize, the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize, the Aiken Taylor Award, the Poet's Prize, and the Harvard Arts and Robert Frost medals.