What do you think?
Rate this book
Self/Pity
Drawing on history, myth, folk rhymes, human physiology, and the psyche's crevices, Susan Hahn's Self/Pity is a relentless journey of the self through time, into the labyrinth of the present with its own stimuli and despairs. She strikes a delicate balance of contrast and collision between the various linked poems in this collection, which all deal with birth, the body, and the soul.
As with her previous collections, the poems in Self/Pity can be read as a cohesive whole.
From the simple prayer "To Jacob Four Months In The Womb" to the complex territory of the poem sequence "The Pornography of Pity," in which Mother Goose, the Marquis de Sade, Godot, Lewis Carroll's Alice, The Cat and the Fiddle, Zeus, and many others are called upon, Hahn creates a tour-de-force exploration of the book's central themes.
As with her previous collections, the poems in Self/Pity can be read as a cohesive whole.
From the simple prayer "To Jacob Four Months In The Womb" to the complex territory of the poem sequence "The Pornography of Pity," in which Mother Goose, the Marquis de Sade, Godot, Lewis Carroll's Alice, The Cat and the Fiddle, Zeus, and many others are called upon, Hahn creates a tour-de-force exploration of the book's central themes.
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Paperback
First published August 19, 2005
1 person is currently reading
10 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
September 23, 2008
I read some of this book before, but only skimming, before I had to return it. After finding and checking it out again, I was surprised at how good it really is. The imagery is some of the strongest I've read and Hahn is very imaginative and inventive with her word choices and her inspection/investigation of all kinds of pity. She maps out pity in deep, powerful ways and each poem is fresh and new. I didn't notice any fall-back imagery words or phrases (words/phrases reused in a chapbook, e.g. snow, feathers, breath, etc.). It is what a themed book should be, and many poets can learn from this shining example. Most poems flowed well into each other, interweaving in a way that felt natural.
The only (negative) things that I noticed were that, near the middle of the book, it gets slightly repetitive with the symbolism of Adam/Eve/apple and that slowed it down a little; also, I didn't enjoy The Punctuation of Pity (which felt too choppy and didn't flow well).
Some of the many lines/poems that I enjoyed:
"Random movements so high/in the uterine tube-/an overheated breeze blown/in, the world all gelatin" - from O Baby O (Very strong with 'Rock-a-bye Baby' verses tucked in)
"reminder of what I/once was - low creature/of inflammation, on all fours -/all pant in June,/palms flat to the floor" from Pity The Appendix
"an all actions or re-/actions wandering the desert of the formidable/cacti, braille that bleeds the fingertips/to unreadable, Your behavior and mine/untouchable and, thereby, indecipherable." from Pity The Brain
"the air/is so full of the circular-/all molecules being returned/to the atmosphere, while the self slips/down, down behind the sacrum,/asks the soul to wipe it, cleanse it,/and begs to be taken along." - from Pity The Self - Postmordem: decay
"all focus on the delicate lotus/that has fought to emerge/from the moth-ravaged head." from The Seventh Chakra
"Mother May I? Her voice/no longer gives permission, a path out." from The Pornography of Pity 8 (VIII)
Rating: An easy 9 out of 10. I look forward to adding this to my collection when I get the chance.
The only (negative) things that I noticed were that, near the middle of the book, it gets slightly repetitive with the symbolism of Adam/Eve/apple and that slowed it down a little; also, I didn't enjoy The Punctuation of Pity (which felt too choppy and didn't flow well).
Some of the many lines/poems that I enjoyed:
"Random movements so high/in the uterine tube-/an overheated breeze blown/in, the world all gelatin" - from O Baby O (Very strong with 'Rock-a-bye Baby' verses tucked in)
"reminder of what I/once was - low creature/of inflammation, on all fours -/all pant in June,/palms flat to the floor" from Pity The Appendix
"an all actions or re-/actions wandering the desert of the formidable/cacti, braille that bleeds the fingertips/to unreadable, Your behavior and mine/untouchable and, thereby, indecipherable." from Pity The Brain
"the air/is so full of the circular-/all molecules being returned/to the atmosphere, while the self slips/down, down behind the sacrum,/asks the soul to wipe it, cleanse it,/and begs to be taken along." - from Pity The Self - Postmordem: decay
"all focus on the delicate lotus/that has fought to emerge/from the moth-ravaged head." from The Seventh Chakra
"Mother May I? Her voice/no longer gives permission, a path out." from The Pornography of Pity 8 (VIII)
Rating: An easy 9 out of 10. I look forward to adding this to my collection when I get the chance.
Displaying 1 of 1 review