Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth: New Poems

by Alice Walker

In this exquisite book, Alice Walker’s first new collection of poetry since 1991, are poems that reaffirm her as “one of the best American writers of today” ( The Washington Post ). The forces of nature and the strength of the human spirit inspire the poems in Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth . Alice Walker opens us to feeling and understanding, with poems that cover a broad spectrum of emotions. With profound artistry, Walker searches for, discovers, and declares the
fundamental beauty of existence, as she explores what it means to experience life fully, to learn from it, and to grow both as an individual and as part of a greater spiritual community.

About Walker’s Horses Make a Landscape Look More Beautiful , America said, “In the tradition of Whitman, Walker sings, celebrates and agonizes over the ordinary vicissitudes that link and separate all of humankind,” and the same can be said about this astonishing new collection, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth .

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Queer, Black Literature, Classics, African American Literature, Feminism

229 pages, Paperback

Published March 9, 2004

About the author

Noted American writer Alice Walker won a Pulitzer Prize for her stance against racism and sexism in such novels as The Color Purple (1982).

People awarded this preeminent author of stories, essays, and poetry of the United States. In 1983, this first African woman for fiction also received the national book award. Her other books include The Third Life of Grange Copeland , Meridian , The Temple of My Familiar , and Possessing the Secret of Joy . In public life, Walker worked to address problems of injustice, inequality, and poverty as an activist, teacher, and public intellectual.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

My love for Alice Walker’s writing began back in 1995 when I wrote about The Colour Purple as part of my dissertation. It remains one of my favourite books of all time. I came across this 2004 publication more recently. I was in the library, supposedly working on my own book, but instead I spent the morning devouring these poems.

I loved the whole book, but would particularly recommend: ‘Coming Back from Seeing Your People’; ‘What Will Save Us’; ‘Thanksgiving’; ‘(Yours and Mine) Is Obsolete’; and ‘You Too Can Look, Smell, Dress, Act This Way’.

I’m in awe of the way Alice Walker can convey panoramic landscapes of emotion within just a few words. She shines an unerring light on the subtle corners of living, revealing that what we consider unimportant might be far more significant than it first appears. Most of all, I love the fact that despite her unflinching consideration of pain and suffering, I always walk away from her writing feeling uplifted.

[Brittany · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the worst traps
Is finding yourself
Despising someone
Really good.

There they are
Wearing a miniskirt
Talking dirty
But washing
The filthy
Feeding the hungry
Defending
The poor
Befriending the dead

& all you can
Say in your
Defense

Is
Their bleached hair
& studded
Nostril
Hardly goes
With so much
Leg.

This book had a few poems I liked (including the one above), but for all the complaining people do about hitting space every few words and calling it poetry, this book is the pure embodiment of it (and is less interesting to me than the majority of the other offenders).

[Ananya Ghosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even though this one is supposed to be more popular and more appreciated, I liked A Poem Traveled Down My Arms more. I want to give this one 3.5 but I didn't want to down-rate it, so I had to give 4.

I did love quite a few poems from this too, and they were also in blank verse, without rhyme or definite structure, but the words sometimes flowed beautifully, and I really loved it. The poems in this collection were bigger, running to 4-5 pages as well, and were categorised, and personal. I loved the one about the native American woman preacher.

I feel like these poems reveal Alice as a person and that I should have read this after exploring a little more of her novel writing. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Honest. Deeply introspective. Embracing all of life.

On Some Things to Enjoy About Aging--

The dignity
of
Silver:
New light
Around my
Head.

Forgetfulness:
So much less
To recall!

Talking to myself:
Amusing company
For me &
My dog.

There is so much in this little book. Very powerful.
Also very cool is this book has her signature -- example http://www.tomfolio.com/autographimg....

[Joy]

I was browsing in the library, flipped the book open to this poem, and then sat down and read the whole collection.

To be a woman
Does not mean
To wear
A shroud;

The Feminine
Is not Dead
Nor is she
Sleeping

Angry, yes,
Seething, yes.

Biding her time;

Yes.
Yes.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

hey! my soul just healed!

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Despite
the hunger
we cannot
possess
more
than
this:
Peace
in a garden
of
our own."

[Kim Noble Calhoun · Rating 5 out of 5]

I mean, it's Alice Walker. My friend gave me this book, and I am so grateful for it. I read it all in a day, and I think I'll go back and re-read it many times.

[Kendalyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Who knows
Where the newness to old life
Comes from?
Suddenly
It appears.
Babies are caught by hands they assumed were always
Waiting.
Ink streaks
From the
Pen
Left dusty
On
The shelf.

This is the true wine of astonishment:

We are not
Over
When we think
We are."

There are so many great poems and definitely some new favorites such as, "At first it is true, I thought there were only peaches & wild grapes," "Projection," and "Falling Bodies" and many more. I anticipate more ventures into Alice Walkers writing!

[Holly Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it in one sitting. Short, simple poems. Nothing inherently wrong with them but they weren’t the style of poetry I prefer. I’m partial to longer narrative works while these were short, simplistic and full of haiku-like imagery.

[Jason Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good poems, serviceable, but an average collection overall.

[Molly · Rating 2 out of 5]

(1.5 / 5) "--if poems can actually be called writing... From that first volume [of my poetry] to this, what remains the same is the sense that, unlike 'writing,' poetry chooses when it will be expressed, and under what circumstances. Its requirements for existence remain mysterious. In its spontaneous, bare truthfulness, it bears a close relation to song and to prayer."

I wish I could properly unscrew my lens and read this book as I might have in middle or high school, where things such as form and heft of abstraction would not have annoyed me to such a large degree. Reading this felt like reading an undergraduate portfolio. Here are a few poems, all centered down the page:

Title: "Where Is That Nail File? Where Are My Glasses? Have You Seen My Car Keys?"
"Nothing is ever lost / It is only / Misplaced / If we look / We can find / It / Again / Human / Kindness."

Title: "The Award"
"Though not / A contest / Life / Is / The award / & we / Have / Won."

Title: "We Are All So Busy"
"We are all so busy. // We say: I am on fire / To see you / But next week / I'll be way / In Boston / & the / Week after that / I have / An important / Meeting / In Kalamazoo. // Ah, Kalamazoo. // A place / I spend / Far / Too much / Time in / Myself."

Or these kinds of phrases: "a playful spin on the / spider's web called the internet"

And read a brief paragraph introduction to a poem explaining those who jumped from the World Trade Center, as if the simplicity of the poem weren't enough for the reader to intuit the situation.

I found myself wondering if my aversion to this form, after seeing it so many times in my students' work, might have been what made me cringe. After all, I loved Alice Walker's prose; it was hugely important to me. What if Walker had played with lineation? Or just made them left justified? What if they were more compact, like haiku?

Consider:
Title: "Wrinkles"
"Wrinkles / Invited by Life / Have / Entered / This house. // Someone / New / Is living / In my / Face."

It's the sort of slyness I could smile at. I also loved her use of "Matron saint," and I do appreciate her addressing her grounding on the earth and appreciation of women and goddess invocation.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

In my late teens, I found a poem of Alice Walker’s that resonated with me so strongly that I kept a copy of it on my wall for my entire four years of college.
Somehow, in the intervening years, my love of Alice Walker’s poetry slipped from my memory. Indeed, when I picked up this book at the library on a whim, I had totally forgotten that the poem I loved so much in college was even written by Ms. Walker.

It wasn’t until I started reading that I fell back in love with Ms. Walker’s lyrical, magical style. There’s something marvelous about finding a forgotten favorite and rediscovering them once again, of realizing your affection hasn’t cooled or become something silly or embarrassing in the intervening years.

This is a powerful collection. Some poems stuck with me more than others, and I’d say there were more poems than not that grabbed me with a turn of phrase or a thought. But one thing that surprised me was how the shadow of 9 / 11 and the subsequent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Absolute Trust was published in 2005) hangs over this collection. Reading her poems – remembering my own experiences with those years and how we all seemed to walk around in a haze in the aftermath – I was struck by how long ago all of it feels. And how glad I am the haze is over but that books like Absolute Trust exist to remind us of what was.

But the collection is much more than that and worth a read. Highly recommended.

[ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

toller titel & ich liebe Alice Walker

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

It pains me to rate an Alice Walker book only 2 stars, but this was kind of a weird book of poems-- almost sophomoric. I don't understand the way she breaks up her lines, in most cases it doesn't seem to add to the message of the poem and instead it comes across as distracting.

As far as content, I found it just so-so. I hate to say "boring"-- bland maybe? The poems feel too random and diary-like to really feel universal, but I also don't know if I got a good sense of the poet either. I think I mostly just felt, well, bored.

I did enjoy the end of her poem "Coming Back From Seeing Your People" very much though:

"Beloved
You must learn
To walk alone
To hold
The precious
Silence
To bring home
And keep the precious
Little
That is left
Of yourself"

[Ronald Wise · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poetry which convincingly portrayed Walker as in a state of self-assured readiness to take on whatever her life had to offer. This book was published a year before her novel Now Is the Time to Open Your Heart, in which the female protagonist holds the same attitude. I found many of the poems to be inspirational toward maintaining a hopeful confidence in facing life's challenges. This book was added to my reading list, along with all her works, after reading her novel mentioned above.

[Christopher · Rating 1 out of 5]

Inconsistent, but generally bad. Prone to simple iterations on clichés, seen in $4 greeting cards and inspirational magnets on grandma's refrigerator. Frequent line breaks to the point of distraction. You get the sense that this is just a habit for Walker, and not in service of the underlying music. The effect is a superficial, unsatisfying rhythm, where each poem feels much like the next.

The only poem that really made me stop and feel was They Made Love, whereas I probably rolled my eyes a dozen times through the rest of the book.

[Kristin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I bought this book for two reasons: 1) I am a fan of Walker's prose; 2)I fell in love with her poem entitled "The Tree". After reading her poetry, I'll stick with her prose.

[Pan Ellington · Rating 4 out of 5]

my first read of walker's poetry and loved it. all works here grounded in earth, the ancestors, our fellow humanfolk.

timely.

[Jeff · Rating 2 out of 5]

This style of poetry is definitely not for me. I don't disagree with (much of) what Walker's saying but i don't value, enjoy, like the way it's written. Bummer.

[Kier Scrivener · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I could not have written these poems in a bright sunny room where there were no shadows"

I feel so mixed on reviewing this as the preface blew me away, I had pages of notes on her words, and then the collection began and I was sure it was just beginning with a few that were duds for me. As poetry is highly subjective, there is never really a collection without a few misfires for every reader. Then in the midst of it, I would find a few lines or rewrite them without spaces and like them, but the style with no more then three words per line was distracting and halted rhythm (for me).

I was over a third of the way through when my roommate arrived home and I passed the collection to her and she reported the same struggle. When she was reading aloud I was able to better to hear the words, not distracted by the form. But she too found it difficult to focus, skipping lines and for me at least it was a little headachy.

I was once pretty unread when it came to poetry, but I like to think I am moderately read now especially more modern poetry with plenty of line breaks and short lines. And there were oftentimes profound lines, but every time the style cut it.

This could be a me issue, because rating something that was a nightmare in execution but profound in meaning is difficult. But I cannot discount style, especially in poetry, where form is an essential part of the makeup. Not only of enjoyment but in effectiveness.

If the preface is any indication of her writing I eagerly look forward to reading her novels, but after searching up her wider poetry, it might not be for me.

[Rebekah F. · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always hard to review poetry, because personal taste affects its reading perhaps more than any other form, but there's a heart-and-soul-centered itch that nothing but poetry will scratch for me. Friday night (yes, Valentine's Day 2020), I found myself with that itch, and pulled this off my shelf where it had patiently been waiting since my sister gifted it to me in 2018. Ms. Walker wrote the bulk of these poems at her house in Mexico following 9/11/2001 and before 2003. For me, it did what it said, cultivating that trust in the goodness of the earth, needed then and needed now...Still.

She doesn't shy away from the personal, the spiritual, or the political. Some readers will appreciate this. (I did.) Some will not, partially because, at times, it can be confronting. Either way, you will be called to think for and reflect on life for yourself.

One tiny thing bothered me at times. I felt like the line breaks were a little excessive here and there and made things choppy. That is purely a matter of personal taste for me, though, and I could still go with the sentiments behind them.

I'll leave you with a taste, from the poem titled "Winning":

"The smallest child
"Understands:

"Anyone who terrorizes us
"Is a terrorist;

"Anyone who steals from us
"Is a thief;

"Any one who loves
"Has won."

[Jennifer Jank · Rating 5 out of 5]

I chose this book for my reading challenge this month, which was a collection of poems. I ended up with it mostly by accident, since my library didn't have a big selection to choose from.

What a lucky pick I made. These poems are nothing short of amazing. I highly recommend this to pretty much everyone I know.

Her poems are illuminated by her compassion, even with difficult subject matter. I always resonate with positive evocations of the feminine, and there are many in here. I felt like I was floating on a cloud of love while I read. Which may sound a little weird, and it is to me since I haven't ever felt like that reading a book of poems before. But that's what it was like, and I could actually feel my own compassion expanding as she wrote lovingly of the mundane or broken.

I couldn't read them all at once; I could only take in a few at a time. It's similar to when I go to an art museum: I can only absorb so much beauty at once, and then I need to go off and think about it.

So if you read only one book of poems this year - this one is a great contender!

[Melissa Rochelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I generally feel very ill-equipped to review poetry. Like any review, it's obviously subjective and depends on where I'm at in my own life when reading it. But poetry feels even MORE subjective than reading a book. I don't know why, can't explain it.

A couple of highlights:
From "To Be a Woman"
The Feminine
Is not
Dead
Nor is she Sleeping

Angry, yes,
Seething, yes.

And:

"Despite the Hunger"
Despite
the hunger
we cannot
possess
more
than
this:
Peace
in a garden
of
our own.

[Chrissy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really didn't care for this poetry book. The main themes are anti-war, anti-military, and anti-men. The poems go from angry to dark, and the tipping point was when she was glad that 9/11 happened because it released us of our arrogant happiness. Basically, every country hates the Americans because we feel safe (hello, one of the best militaries in the world) and we're happy. Ugh. The author is so twisted.

[Megan Mellino · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful collection of poems, and I enjoyed it immensely. Although (obviously) stylistically different from her novels, Alice Walker remains a titan of descriptive language. The poem "Thanks for the garlic" absolutely delighted me. Another favorite poem was "You too can look, smell, dress, act this way" which was a delightful tribute to Jane Goodall and womanhood itself. Highly recommend this collection!

[Keri Stewart · Rating 3 out of 5]

The themes in this book shine through in words that speak a lot with such few. I found myself earlier on in the book to find the enjambment to be forced and over-used, but as the book progressed that seemed to disappear for the most part in later poems. I was also hoping that every poem would feel brand new but many of them were roughly the same due to the same format. Otherwise these two critiques, I found the book to hold a lot of sentiment which is respectable.

[Elizrd · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lines of poem were all so short! I'm used to reading older poetry with longer lines, so this was a refreshing change. I like several of her poems, though my favorite were the ones in the section titled aging. Old age is so often neglected in books, sadly, so it's nice to see some poems focusing on aging and being old.

[Lynn Dixon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth is a collection of delightful and thought-provoking poems from Alice Walker. She reminds us to, "Not hold on to the old stuff," and tells writers to always be ready because a new story idea may, "Cough in the middle of our lazy day and announce itself." No one can say it like Alice Walker!

[Lagobond · Rating 1 out of 5]

So I love Alice Walker's prose, but

Splitting sentences

Into

Multiple lines

Does

Not

A poem make.

***

This was a disappointment. It honestly feels like the stuff I wrote in high school, when I thought myself all worldly and grown-up, except I had already developed enough self-awareness to know that my "poems" weren't fit to share with the world.