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Cures Include Travel
“‘These begonias have come a long way,’ writes Susan Rich in a marvelous poem called ‘Everyone in Bosnia Loves Begonias,’ and so has she! I admired her talent years ago, and this book makes it clear that she has grown into a mature and accomplished poet.”—Linda Pastan A dynamic new collection by the winner of the PEN West Poetry Award. Rich’s poetry tracks the globe, drawing us into the lives of ordinary people on nearly every continent.
- GenresPoetry
96 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2006
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26 people want to read
About the author
Susan Rich
23 books57 followersSusan is the author of five collections of poetry including the most recently released, Gallery of Postcards and Maps: New and Selected Poems. She is also co-editor of The Strangest of Theatres: Poets Writing Across Borders. Her four previous books are Cloud Pharmacy, The Alchemist's Kitchen, finalist for the Foreword Prize, Cures Include Travel and The Cartographer’s Tongue: Poems of the World. She is the winner of the PEN USA Award for Poetry and the Peace Corps Writers Award.
Recent poems appear in The Antioch Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Diode, Southern Review, Harvard Review, and Poetry International. Susan Rich grew up in Boston, Massachusetts but has since become a confirmed Seattlite. When she read in Bosnia and Slovenia the audience burst into laughter at the word "Seattlite" in a poem, mistaking it for satellite. Later, someone explained to Susan that this was funny because Americans come from out of space.
Interview with Elizabeth Glixman at http://www.eclectica.org/v9n4/glixman...
Rich teaches English and Film Studies at Highline College outside Seattle, WA where she is also a co-founder of Poets on the Coast: A Writing Retreat for Women. She has worked in Bosnia, Niger, West Bank and Gaza, and South Africa on behalf of human rights.
Recent poems appear in The Antioch Review, Bellevue Literary Review, Diode, Southern Review, Harvard Review, and Poetry International. Susan Rich grew up in Boston, Massachusetts but has since become a confirmed Seattlite. When she read in Bosnia and Slovenia the audience burst into laughter at the word "Seattlite" in a poem, mistaking it for satellite. Later, someone explained to Susan that this was funny because Americans come from out of space.
Interview with Elizabeth Glixman at http://www.eclectica.org/v9n4/glixman...
Rich teaches English and Film Studies at Highline College outside Seattle, WA where she is also a co-founder of Poets on the Coast: A Writing Retreat for Women. She has worked in Bosnia, Niger, West Bank and Gaza, and South Africa on behalf of human rights.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 7, 2007
It was the best-selling poetry book at Seattle’s best bookstore in September 2006. Elliott Bay Book Company keeps their bestsellers on shelves next to the front door, fiction on the left, nonfiction on the right. I’d never seen a poetry book on the shelves before. But there it was, a friend’s book, at #6 in nonfiction.
I wondered at the shelver’s deliberation: is poetry fiction or nonfiction? In Susan’s case, I think s/he made the right decision, as Susan writes what might be called “reported poems,” interviewing people about their experiences and then making poetry from them. This is the best of "activist poetry." Susan, and the people she writes about, will hold you close and stay with you long after you read.
I wondered at the shelver’s deliberation: is poetry fiction or nonfiction? In Susan’s case, I think s/he made the right decision, as Susan writes what might be called “reported poems,” interviewing people about their experiences and then making poetry from them. This is the best of "activist poetry." Susan, and the people she writes about, will hold you close and stay with you long after you read.
August 25, 2008
I took this on a trip the summer after my husband went through cancer treatment, and boy howdy it was helpful. I read it cover to cover silently and then several poems out loud and then cover to cover. Also the cover is another cure.
May 8, 2020
This book of poetry was full of beautifully woven verse!
Reading poetry enriches and inspires the soul especially when it is of this caliber of writing.
Reading poetry enriches and inspires the soul especially when it is of this caliber of writing.
August 17, 2013
From Flight Path, p 16, "In the complicity of wings / I tend toward naming // freeway, river, mountain town - / reaching beyond a horizon // where everything is travel, everything / enlivened along its open path."
From The Sand Woman, p 28, "On the Sahara's shore / in the language of drift and dune, // of Harmattan and famine, / her life a prayer."
From Missing Home, p 35, "Whenever I step away / from my swath of sky, my water lush // lip of the planet, I wonder // will the house survive / beyond the utterance of earthquakes - // And what about the cats?"
From What the Baker Wants, p 57, "His daydream rolls onward like a chocolate roulade - // imagining late night debates. / What does the truth taste like? Thick as purple honey / or light as vanilla souffle?"
From Self-Portait with Trampoline, p 62, "Where wouldn't she go if she trampolined / into night, // above ope fields / and orchards // of apricot, red plum? // What might she know if she basked / in her bright body, // in the seduction of flip / and spin, // the air tender as muslin?"
From Iska's Story, p 66, "So perhaps wounds and words / don't work well together."
From In the Beginning, p 83, "From these blue glass bowls / we lift this moment / to our lips, / deftly fix the berries / on our tongues; // we taste what is feral, / what will keep, reshaping it / later in our sleep."
From The Sand Woman, p 28, "On the Sahara's shore / in the language of drift and dune, // of Harmattan and famine, / her life a prayer."
From Missing Home, p 35, "Whenever I step away / from my swath of sky, my water lush // lip of the planet, I wonder // will the house survive / beyond the utterance of earthquakes - // And what about the cats?"
From What the Baker Wants, p 57, "His daydream rolls onward like a chocolate roulade - // imagining late night debates. / What does the truth taste like? Thick as purple honey / or light as vanilla souffle?"
From Self-Portait with Trampoline, p 62, "Where wouldn't she go if she trampolined / into night, // above ope fields / and orchards // of apricot, red plum? // What might she know if she basked / in her bright body, // in the seduction of flip / and spin, // the air tender as muslin?"
From Iska's Story, p 66, "So perhaps wounds and words / don't work well together."
From In the Beginning, p 83, "From these blue glass bowls / we lift this moment / to our lips, / deftly fix the berries / on our tongues; // we taste what is feral, / what will keep, reshaping it / later in our sleep."
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January 28, 2009"These begonias have come a long way,'writes Susan Rich in a marvelous poem called Everyone in Bosnia Loves Begonias,'and so has she! I admired her talent years ago, and this book makes it clear that she has grown into a mature and accomplished poet."-Linda Pastan
A dynamic new collection by the winner of the 2008 TLS Contest and PEN West Poetry Award. Hedgebrook alumna Susan Rich's poetry tracks the globe, drawing us into the lives of ordinary people on nearly every continent.
A dynamic new collection by the winner of the 2008 TLS Contest and PEN West Poetry Award. Hedgebrook alumna Susan Rich's poetry tracks the globe, drawing us into the lives of ordinary people on nearly every continent.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews