Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth: Poems 2004-2006
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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780393334784 |
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| Publisher: | Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc. |
| Publication date: | 05/04/2009 |
| Pages: | 112 |
| Sales rank: | 1,252,903 |
| Product dimensions: | 8.20(w) x 5.56(h) x 0.32(d) |
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Telephone Ringing in the Labyrinth: Poems 2004-2006
3.9 out of 5
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0 ratings.
7 reviews.
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TELEPHONE RINGING IN THE LABYRINTH, Adrienne Rich's collection of poems from 2004-2006 is at once cynical, nostalgic, and keenly observant of both the passage of time and the daily events of ordinary life. Highly imagistic, the poems reflect an old and wise sensibility:"Dreamfaces blurring horrorlands: the border of poetry.Ebb tide sucks out clinging rockpool creatures, no swimming back into sleep.Clockface says too early, body prideful and humble shambles into another day, reclaiming itself piecemeal in private ritual acts.Reassembling the anagram scattered nightly, rebuilding daily the sand city."
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Adrienne Rich's latest collection takes you to the minute details of life. Rich has an interesting way of articulating the smallest thought, observation, or action. I enjoyed reading this book for its lesson on how to pay attention to life, and how to pay attention to yourself.
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The poems in Adrienne Rich's latest collection demonstrate her versatility, ranging from the accessible (though never simplistic) such as "This is Not The Room"to the nearly opaque, such as "Draft #2006", where evocative images in separate fragments such asClockface says too early, body prideful and humble shamblesinto another day, reclaiming istself piecemeal in private ritualacts.are difficult to interpret as a whole.Many of the poems, however, are equally evocative but more accessible. Political concerns weigh heavily in this volume, in some of the clearest and most biting lines such as these from "Calibrations":Ghost limbs go into spasm in the nightYou come back from war with the body you haveHowever, the book is not a polemic, and the most wrenching poem may be the intensely personal "Hubble Photographs: After Sappho" (which is perhaps more intensely personal for me than even for Rich, but the same will be true for other poems for other people).Every poem is a different mood (though, unsurprisingly for anyone familiar with Rich's work, none of these moods are cheerful) and the poems are shorter on average than much of Rich's earlier work, making this an easy book to dip into, spend a few minutes reading a poem, and the rest of the day contemplating it.
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Many years ago, perhaps in the 70's, I read Diving Into the Wreck and other collections of Adrienne Rich's poetry. I found her poems to speak of emotions I was unable to articulate on my own. Now, all these years later, Ms. Rich writes poetry equally rich in emotions, yet reflecting the passing years and her gained maturity. Once more, she speaks to my life in surprising and moving ways. After I read the first poem in this collection, I wanted to call my Buddhist friends to read it to them, after saying to them, "Here is the soul of change and impermanence, brought to the human heart." Not every poem in this collection moved me in that way, of course, but many did. This collection is more mature and deeper than those of Ms. Rich that I recall reading when I was so much younger, as was she.
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These poems are non-stop sorrow and misery. There's never beauty, never passion, and certainly never humor. Love is occasionally present, but not as a focus, only as an accessory to misery.Depressing subject matter aside, I still don't find much to appreciate in these poems. The tone is often pretentious to the point where it seems like Rich is trying to prove that she's an intellectual. And as for sound and rhythm, those elements simply aren't used at all; words might as well not be things people say out loud.Maybe someone else could enjoy this book. It might even be recommendable for, say, an emo English major. But I'm someone who likes poets like E.E. Cummings and Richard Brautigan; for me, all I got out of this was the relief when I finished it.
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The poems here are more elliptical than Rich's early work with which I'm most familiar. Some are so dense as to be impenetrable, while others read like scattered fragments swept together into a jumble. In most, though, there's a phrase or two that shines out like a jewel. I suspect that their more hidden charms will become apparent on re-reading... [2008-01-07]
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I enjoyed the literal as well as the implied relationships. I think the entertainment was worth the price.
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