A whole lot of poetry
The Dream We Carry: Selected and Last Poems by Olav H. Hauge
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
A beautiful introduction to a wonderful poet. Hauge was a Norwegian farmer and poet whose minimalist poems are reminiscent of some classic Chinese poems. This collection includes the selected poems in both Norwegian and the English translation by Robert Bly and Robert Hedin. Highly recommended.
If Men, Then: Poems by Eliza Griswold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Griswold is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist who also compiled an anthology of poems by Afghan women. That experience influences her poems about surviving the world of violence and pollution and finding one's own way. Smart and hopeful but not saccharine, a strong collection.
Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Díaz
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Diaz's second collection finds the poet struggling with physical desire as contemporary America seeks to erase her identity as an indigenous person. The core notions of existence and identity fill these pages as she identifies not just with her own people, but with the land, with women and with other minorities and races. Recommended.
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