The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe

by Laura Gilpin

Laura Gilpin's first collection of poetry, for which she won the 1976 Walt Whitman Award.

Genres: Poetry, Classics, Nonfiction

73 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1976

About the author

Laura Crafton Gilpin (1950–2007) was an American poet, nurse, and advocate for hospital reform. She won the Walt Whitman Award.

Gilpin was born on October 10, 1950 to Robert Crafton Gilpin and Bertha Burghard. Gilpin attended Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University.

In 1976, Gilpin was awarded the Walt Whitman Award by the Academy of American Poets for her book of poems titled The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe. She was selected by William Stafford. Gilpin later wrote another book of poetry, titled The Weight of a Soul. Her work was also published in the magazine Poetry.

In 1981, Gilpin became a registered nurse. She was a founding member of Planetree, which has been described as a "pioneering organization dedicated to humanizing patient care in hospitals". Gilpin worked to develop and implement hospital care centered around patients.

Gilpin died on February 15, 2007 in Fairhope, Alabama, at age 56.

Reviews

[Necrxpolis · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe one day I'll read "The Two-headed Calf" and not cry.
today was not the day

[🇵🇸🇵🇸 hasfia 🇵🇸🇵🇸 · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOW DARE THIS END???

I’m an empty, hollow shell.

Full RTC.

[Gail Holman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that poetry can say so much with few words. This slender volume has some real beauties, my favorite, as for many, is The Two-headed Calf. It is a view of the fragile beauty of life. I wish she had written more.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so happy I stumbled across the work of Laura Gilpin. I wish I had known her work sooner! Her writing is elegant in the way that it is simple, graceful in how straightforward it is. Poetic in the way nature is beautiful because, well, it just *is*. Some poetry is like mint tea, some poetry is like straight up brandy. But in the best way possible, I found this work of poetry to be like that first sip of water you take when you wake up in the middle of the night dying of thirst.

My favorite poems from this work were " The Meaning", "Concerning the Gold Fountain Pen Sent to Me by My Father on My Twenty-first Birthday with a Note Congratulating Me on My New Independence", "An Afternoon of Painting", "The Whole of It", "The Two-Headed Calf", and finally "Seeing a Dog in the Rain".

I really enjoyed this little book. I got it through the ILL system at my library, and I'm really sad that I must return it. I wish it was in print for me to purchase! I hope other people read her work too someday and she gets a little more recognition.

[ahotbath · Rating 5 out of 5]

“It is raining and there is a dog lying
in the gutter and the gutter is filling
with water because the sewer is clogged.

If the dog were alive he would be drowning
but as it is, the water is simply stroking
his fur.”

[Mia Tryst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gilpin's one and only published book to date, The Hocus-Pocus of the Universe won the Walt Whitman award in 1976. Then she disappeared from the public spotlight until her death in 2007. I had her book, lost it, retrieved it from the attic where it had been buried for years. I can't say that her work in this book was remarkable, or that it was especially memorable, but there were several poems that will always stay with me . I was saddened by the news of her death, and it made me want to go back read over her work. What I found was that the simplicity of her lines, her wording and phrase were so guileless, pure, and quiet that I am sad to think she may go unknown, unread by the vast majority of readers today. Her poem, the "Two-Headed Calf" is probably her best known poem.


The Two-headed Calf
by Laura Gilpin

Tomorrow when the farm boys find this
freak of nature they will wrap his body
in newspaper and carry him to the museum.

But tonight he is alive and in the north
field with his mother. It is a perfect
summer evening: the moon rising over
the orchard, the wind in the grass.
And as he stares into the sky, there
are twice as many stars as usual.

[Ba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read this book on archive.com. It evokes a lot of fondness in me for the writer. There are some really beautiful prosaic moments, but I think the main strength here lies in the simplicity and the authentic emotion of the poems. I think anyone reading this comes away feeling a lot of love for Laura Gilpin. It is so sad that this book (and her writing in general) are not as widely printed/read as they should be. One of the poetry collections that has resonated with me the most.

[Leyla · Rating 5 out of 5]

"as it is, the water is simply stroking his fur." :((((

3rd re-read and i am finally logging this book.

[Sarah Cetra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listen, The Two Headed Calf alone is enough to make this a five star read, but also… damn was Gilpin talented. She captures relationships in such a beautiful way. The father-daughter poems were particularly incredible.

Loved.

[Cian · Rating 5 out of 5]

The genius responsible for The Two-Headed Calf, Laura Gilpin is one of your favourite poets and you don't even know it yet. My favourite poem of hers (and one of my favourite poems of all time) is Seeing a Dog in the Rain: as swift and winding as a punch in the gut, but I love it all the same. It scratches the same melancholic, animalic itch as Two-Headed Calf, only 100 times stronger, and it always makes me misty.

Other highlights include Life After Death, Hanging On, and The Field Where You Lost Your Mother. If there's one thing Laura Gilpin did, it was write a sad poem—and have an intense, sometimes eyebrow-raising attachment to her father; I'm not saying Electra complex, but... she did write a rather confessional poem (aptly titled The Whole Truth) about "wanting more" from her dad and finding a lover like him, so...

Anyway, this collection isn't on sale anymore, so if you want to read it (which you absolutely should), there's a great pdf on the Internet Archive that's easy to find/I can send you.

[Alicen Henning · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t claim to know anything about literature- about what makes something good or bad or brilliant- nor anything about the universe; about life; or anything that matters really. This book found me unassumingly one day while I was supposed to be doing something else and all I can say is that I’ll always be grateful that it did.


Is Here

Everything I own is here

these books
these chairs
this table

when I reach out for them
they meet my touch

they help support me
they bear up under my weight
they bend to my will

they offer me encouragement
at ease in my presence
in this room

none of us have to be here
and yet all of us are

and all of us have been around
long enough to know it is best

to be firm and silent
and accept the way
each thing fits in.


The Whole of It

I am as resilient as a robin’s egg
falling out of the nest
twenty feet above ground

My one salvation
is the little boy across the street
who collects odds and ends.

[shelby · Rating 5 out of 5]

it’s a shame this is out of print but thanks to the internet archive (donate!!) i got to read the full collection. this is THE writer of the two-headed calf poem. she died in the town right next to mine years ago. she is a beautiful poet. thank you internet good doers/archivists.

[Koeeoaddi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a brilliant book even if it didn't include "The Two-headed Calf". But it does. 5 stars.

Ms. Gilpin died far too young.

[saloni · Rating 5 out of 5]

now that was poetry. omg. i want to read this over and over again until this is all my brain knows.

[amxndita (taylor's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You say there is an infinite number of stars
only because you haven't counted them”. 💫

Este fue el primer poemario que me ha hecho llorar, me dejó con una presión en el pecho, es como si pudiera sentir todo el sufrimiento que hay detrás de cada palabra

[catie 🧿 · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed her style of writing. has some rly great poems in it. i think for me the highlights of the book would be “life after death”, “the field where you lost your mother”, “at the point of waking”, “i rarely dream of orpheus”, “separation”, “my shadow”, “dust”, “night song”, “body count”, “two headed calf”, “examination”, “snow”, and “infinity”. if u don’t feel like reading all of the poems here i definitely recommend at least reading those. the book was rly short so i read it in like half an hour tops.

[Atlas J Stormzand · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a real tragedy that it is hard to find this book in print nowadays because I loved every last drop of it. Each poem hits a sweet spot in length and language that is unlike anything I've ever read before. If a book could hold you with a gentle strength that says "it will be okay, even if it's not" this would be the book that could do that.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

read this at weaver street, just as the sun was setting. it's just for the first time this year a little too cold for me outside, and there's a rowdy group of high school boys laughing and joking at the table in front of me. this feels appropriate. i don't know how to talk about poetry -- great rhythm? -- but some of these really hit. i liked it. 3.5/5. (reading on further) okay I really liked it. I forgot I read this because it's where The Two-headed Calf was published. 4/5.

[savanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

god this was stunning… laura gilpin you were radiant

my favourites:
- watching my mother sleep
- life after death
- the hub of the universe
- body count
- the two headed calf (one of my favourite poems of all time)
- a toast to the alchemists
- examination

[Laura Defoor]

Favoriete gedichten: Watching My Mother Sleep, Life after death (IV), Concerning the Gold Fountain Pen Sent to Me by My Father on my Twenty-First Birthday with a Note Congratulating Me on My New Independence, The Field Where You Lost Your Mother, The Apple, January, The Two-headed Calf, Body Count

[Ava Jast · Rating 4 out of 5]

i haven’t read a poetry collection in a minute and this was such a nice way to reintroduce it into my life. #lovesit

[denisa ʚїɞ · Rating 5 out of 5]

outstanding collection MY HEART IS BEATING SO FAST

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

To celebrate the birth of a new two-headed calf I wanted to revisit the book which started my love of poetry.

[I · Rating 4 out of 5]

Suddenly you understand
your purpose in life:
to crawl through the ferns and mushrooms
asking why

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favourite poem is in this book. Laura truly has a way with words. So simple yet incredibly profound.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stumbled across the poem "The Two-Headed Calf" and so I thought I'd check out more of Gilpin's poetry.

A nice collection of varied poems, common themes seem to be the passage of time's effect on people, relationships and objects.

Highlights:
-The Two-Headed Calf (obviously)
-My Grandmother's Eighty-sixth Birthday
-The Apple
-Seeing a Dog in the Rain

7/10

[Tala · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this is perhaps my favorite poetry collection of all time (so far). Short and concise while packing a punch.
I was first introduced to Laura Gilpin when I read her poem titled ‘The Two-Headed Calf’ and it struck a chord with me. I’m pleased to report that there is merit in the whole collection as well.
4.5 stars

[Annelie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The two headed calf poem makes me tear up everytime.😭😭😭❤️❤️❤️

[Elsi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oi miten ihastuttavia pieniä runoja! Luin tämän kaksi kertaa putkeen yhdeltä istumalta runobrunssilla elämäni parhaan perunasalaatin äärellä. Pidin varsinkin neljännestä osasta, jossa käsiteltiin ihmisen kykenemättömyyttä käsittää luonnon ihmeellisyyttä. Kokoelman nimikin on teemaan harvinaisen osuva.

[Elsie · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Two-headed calf” is a fan favourite and the most enduring poem from this collection—for good reason. But it would be a true shame to overlook the entirety of this collection in favour of just one of many wonderful works.

Gulpin manages to convey a very sincere tenderness across all her poems. There’s a light handed sense of grief and honesty in the way she approaches her subject matter that I really appreciate. Some of her poetic tone in her shorter works also reminds me of Japanese haiku? Maybe it’s the simplicity.

Not all of her works were hits for me (didn’t enjoy the Indian references or the egg and sperm) but for the most part the collection is solid.

“I rarely dream of Orpheus” “Night Song” and “Life After Death” were all standouts to me.

Read on the Internet Archive because this book is hard to find in print. I may work on hunting down a copy at some point!