Like the iris of an eye

by Susan Griffin

poetry book

Genres: Poetry

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1976

About the author

Susan Griffin is an award winning poet, writer, essayist and playwright who has written nineteen books, including A Chorus of Stones, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Named by Utne reader as one of the top hundred visionaries of the new millenium, she is the recipient of an Emmy for her play Voices, an NEA grant and a MacArthur Grant for Peace and International Cooperation. Her latest work, Wrestling with the Angel of Democracy, on being an American Citizen has been called "fresh, probing" and "incisive" by Booklist.

Reviews

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting read. The poems felt dated though highly consistent with the 1976 publication date. They are a mix of political and personal, bordering on confessional. Many of them have an imagistic quality rather than a narrative shape. Of the somewhat narrative types, my favorite was "This is the Story of the Day in the Life of a Woman Trying." The whole poem resonated with my experience, and I took that line and used it as writing prompt to good effect. The imagistic poems that seemed to be about falling in love with a woman touched a different cord with me--words, syllables, and the structure of, for instance, "Like Water in a Cell There is a Kind of" were pretty dazzling.

I'd have to say that I'm more impressed with Griffin's prose than her poetry, but reading this book was like digging into the archeology of her work and finding core emotions.

[Peggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very feminist; some poems seemed to be of a certain time--the late 1970s. Very taken with the poetic style: simple words, mixed up lines, non-linear, repeated verses or phrases, which often lead to very powerful poetic experiences. Her interest in love, sex, passion, tenderness, kindness in the face of all the negatives that life holds, is hopeful. I like poem 19 of "Nineteen pieces for love" because it integrates nature into her broader vision: "the sparrows scratching in the/underbrush/a tangle of dried branch root and weed/the dark earth/covered in needles/words like stones in the center/words like circles/of water..."

It would be good to own this book and have it at hand. Good because it has wisdom and is very caring.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book of poetry that made me want to write poems.

[Mills College Library]

811.54 G852L 1976