Too Bright to See & Alma

by Linda Gregg

Linda Gregg's first two books are, at long last, available again—this time in a single volume. In this book, we witness the awakening of one of the finest American poets of her generation.

Genres: Poetry

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

Linda Gregg is the author of several collectios of poetry: In the Middle Distance, Things and Flesh, Chosen by the Lion, The Sacraments of Desire, Alma,Too Bright to See and All of It Singing. Her honors include fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Literary Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She won 2006 PEN/Voelcker Award winner for Poetry and has won a Whiting Award.

Librarian's note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gregg appeals to me because of her spiritual/emotional depth. Her poems are clean and accessible, but provoke several readings.
I love this poem--it breaks my heart:

We Manage Most When We Manage Small

What things are steadfast? Not the birds.
Not the bride and groom who hurry
in their brevity to reach one another.
The stars do not blow away as we do.
The heavenly things ignite and freeze.
But not as my hair falls before you.
fragile and momentary, we continue.
Fearing madness in all things huge
and their requiring. Managing as thin light
on water. Managing only greetings
and farewells. we love a little, as the mice
huddle, as the goat leans against my hand.
As the lovers quickening, riding time.
Making safety in the moment. This touching
home goes far. this fishing in the air.

[hjh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Linda Gregg’s poems are some kind of salve for the heart

“I can see she has done this to herself.
So she would not feel the other pain.
And it is true, she does not feel it.
She does not even see me” (11).

“What a greed of bruised gardenias” (17)

“There are so many traps, and many look courageous./ The body goes into such raptures of obedience./ But the huge stones on the desert resemble/ nobody’s mother” (17)

“Take it easy, I say. It is a long time to wait in,/ this order of reality. My presence stings./ I grow specific without consequence” (23)

“The moon will dim/ and I will change;/ but this immortal lizard will stay/ breathing in this stone room,/ without evidence” (26)

“My head ached from the sounds I did not make./ It was more frightening than living./ I went to him, with that singing in me” (27)

“I was bred for slaughter, like the other/ animals. To suffer exactly at the center,/ where there are no clues except pleasure” (30)

“Heavy black birds flying away hard from trees/ which are the color of rust that will green” (74)

“She was perhaps more beautiful/ from where I stood than to him./ I can say it now: She was like a vase/ lit the way milky glass is lighted” (83)

“The look on her face/ is the sound he made” (87)

[S꩜phie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished 2023 with Linda Gregg, wanting to read and write more like her in 2024 <3

Also crazy to see her mention who I believe is Michiko Nogami, Jack Gilbert's late wife, after she also dated Jack. Poetry romances are wild

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating bumped up for "Alma," which I preferred to "Too Bright To See."

[n · Rating 5 out of 5]

poems that kept company in a new city & for that i'll cherish them forever.

[Annette · Rating 4 out of 5]

What things are steadfast? Not the birds.
Not the bride and groom who hurry
in their brevity to reach one another.
The stars do not blow away as we do.
The heavenly things ignite and freeze.
But not as my hair falls before you.
Fragile and momentary, we continue.
Fearing madness in all things huge
and their requiring. Managing as thin light
on water. Managing only greetings
and farewells. We love a little, as the mice
huddle, as the goat leans against my hand.
As the lovers quickening, riding time.
Making safety in the moment. This touching
home goes far. This fishing in the air.

[Patricia Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really strong poems in the collection--not every one speaks to me--but several do puncture like "At Home" and "Lessening."

What things are steadfast? Not the birds.

if paradise is to be here
it will have to include her.

The fete confused me.

The body goes into such raptures of obedience.

I grow specific without consequence.

I was bred for slaughter, like the other
animals

The space we breath is also called distance.

An apple has all colors. Even blue.

I say: Lady, you hurt me
with your pain.

I used to skate on the pond and now it is water.

The look on her face
is the sound he made.

The bones insist on immaculate changes.

[Maxine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made absolutely no sense to me when I first read it. It was terse and angsty, with a lot of allusions to Greek mythology that went over my head. When I read it the second time, though, I realized that its main subject, Alma, was more than just a jilted lover. There's some beautiful imagery here, but not the type that makes you want to fall in love...haha

[Allison · Rating 5 out of 5]

It has taken me over a year to read this book/these books. A Ph. D program got in the way of the pleasure reading. And truly, these poems have been a heart-breaking pleasure to read. And this is why these poems have sat on my nightstand for so long. I am drawn the to short lyrics of Greece, of love, of suffering. Linda Gregg has become a new favorite of mine.

[YL · Rating 4 out of 5]

the first section of this book