Orbit: Poems

by Cynthia Zarin

With Orbit, prize-winning author Cynthia Zarin confirms her place as an indispensable American poet of our time.In this, her fifth collection, Zarin turns her lyric lens on the worlds within worlds we inhabit and how we navigate our shared predicament—the tables of our lives on which the news of the day is the president speaking to parishioners in Charleston, the ricochet of violence, near and far. Whether writing about hairpin turns in the stair of childhood, about the cat’s claw of anxiety, on the impending loss of a young friend, or how “love endures, give or take,” here is the poet who, in the title poem, “bartered forty summers for black pearls” and whose work is full of such wagers, embodied in playing cards, treble notes, snow globes, and balancing acts. Zarin reminds us that the atmosphere created by our experiences shapes and defines the orbit we move through. Along the way, she is both witness and, often indirectly, subject—“I do not know how to hold the beauty and sorrow of my life,” she writes. This book is an attempt at an answer.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2017

About the author

Cynthia Zarin is the author of five books of poetry, as well five books for children and a collection of essays. She teaches at Yale and lives in New York City.

Reviews

[Becky Loader · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely done poems.

[Sandra Miksa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to admit... but I don't think I am well-versed enough to get all the references... as well as Zarin is clearly very skillful and masterful at her craft. I enjoyed some of the poems and others completely went over my head. Definitely calls for a reread in the future.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Confession time: I don’t get along with reading poetry. It has nothing to do with poets or their poetic works; it has everything to do with my inability to critically review poetry. One significant drawback is that I am not well-versed (pun intended) in the technicalities of poetry. For example, I wouldn’t know an iamb from a dactyl, and I certainly wouldn’t know a trochee or an anapest if one ran over me.

Where that leaves me is that I make snap judgments on what I like or…well...don’t like. Accordingly, of the couple-of-dozen-or so poems by Cynthia Zarin in Orbit Poems, I liked several, mostly because of beautiful language expressing beautiful ideas. For example, “Flowers” ends with the gentlest of puzzling emotions:

I do not know how to hold all the beauty and sorrow of my life.

I got completely carried away with “Your Mother Dancing On The Table,” carried away, that is, by the complex structural symmetry of it. I marveled not only at the unfolding story, but also at the mathematical or linguistic prowess in having each six-line stanza comprise seven syllables—with the exception of the fifth line, which only contains six syllables.

In the long low living room
after everyone has gone,
your mother in a sleeveless
shift dress made out of some stuff
turquoise material
is dancing on the table

I also liked “Rainy Day Fugue,” but my absolute favorite in the collection is “Blue Vase,” the closing lines of which, in my opinion, come as close to lyrical beauty as makes no difference.

…A slip of light, untamed,
Had turned the vase into a crystal ball,
Whole blue eye looked back at us, amazed, two
Sleepers startled in each other’s arms,
While day lapped at night’s extinguished edge,
Adrift between the past and future tense…

It will be a while before I read more poetry, but I’m glad I read Zarin’s Orbit Poems.

[Jessica Furtado · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one teetered between 3-4 stars, but I rounded down since I didn’t find the collection as a whole especially compelling.

“Your Mother Dancing on the Table (Fiesole 1966)” was my favorite with its vivid images & impeccable language. “Flowers” & “Faun” were also striking.

[Anastiasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed Cynthia's style of writing, inspired my own writing in poetry. My favorite was her story about the sunrise near the end of the book. I also enjoyed how it feels there are grey skies and rainy weather through the entire novel.

[Brittany Mishra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a hard time getting through this collections. It didn't capture my attention or heart.

[Spudpuppy]

Didn’t change my life but it was really nice to read something that actually had effort and care and thought put into it lol after the last “poems” I read lmao

[Mina · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really ass at understanding poetry but I finished it a few days ago. I'll probably have to take more time to understand it ngl :')