New and Collected Poems

by Grace Paley

Poetry. " Grace Paley is a poet of great whimsy and wisdom. She is a teller of proverbs, she is funny and poignant, a writer of great power and great delicacy. She is one of our finest - and most original - poets. I love reading her" -Gerald Stern.

Genres: Poetry

Paperback

First published March 1, 1992

About the author

Grace Paley was an American short story writer, poet, and political activist whose work won a number of awards.

Reviews

[Northpapers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sabbath book #5 for 2018.

Paley was an activist, the sort to wear sandwich boards and hand out flyers. She was also a mother and teacher and wife. Between these occupations, she would jot lines and ideas on scraps of paper and stuff them in her pockets for later assembly.

Either Paley determined the method or the method determined Paley, but the result is a collection of lively, affectionate poems that find their movement and meaning in the human mess.

All art is autobiographical in a way. But Grace Paley's benefits from being so because she understood, in a warm and living way, that she was among other people. These poems feel like the search of a heart for something to love in a heavy, unjust world. Given the difficulty of that quest, it's amazing what Paley finds.

To me, her poems are unparalleled in their warmth, humor, wisdom, and compassion. She's my favorite poet.

The highlights here are many, but "Housing" and "The Nature of This City" were favorites.

[Isabel DiMambro · Rating 5 out of 5]

too young to use love for health and enrichment

[Harley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The poetry of Grace Paley reminds me of e.e. cummings in terms of style -- Little capitalization, or punctuation. The poems also have a visual component. She uses space to separate thoughts instead of punctuation.

The poem called Age is made up of single words and phrases separated by spaces. The words build to create an emotion and feeling.

She has a number of anti-war poems like Two Villages. Here are the opening lines:

In Duc Ninh a village of 1,654 households
Over 100 tons of rice and casava were burned
18,138 cubic meters of dyke were destroyed
There is a bomb crater that measures 150 feet across
It is 50 feet deep

Some of my favorite poems include:

A Poem About Storytelling
On the Fourth Floor
One Day
Family
Leaves Apples
Song Stanzas of Private Luck
The Old Dog's Song
The Dance in Jinoteca

I believe this is a book worth reading.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a verbose person myself, I found it absolutely fascinating and captivating how much meaning and feeling was conveyed in just a few words. I was not expecting the feelings some of these brought out. I highly recommend to any fan of poetry, or even of modern history or sociology.

[hh · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like paley's political poems more than her personal poems (although some places these overlap, admittedly). her vietnam and south american poems i like particularly.

[Yasmin M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was like listening to a music record, or watching a show, for a lack of a better word. I have always said I don’t “get” poetry and hence I have always been afraid of reading it. But these…were just magic.
It was ok that I didn’t get everything. Because the words were so bold, the music so loud, so melodic, the colors so bright, that I walked away with SOMETHING from each poem. It was one of the most beautiful things that I encountered this year.

[Meghan Violet · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love you for your delicacy in appearing after so many years