The Sacraments of Desire: Poems

by Linda Gregg

"The blinding intensity of Ms. Gregg's lines stains the reader's psyche the way lightning or heartache do."-Joseph Brodsky "Love, death and longing are archetypal presences in Gregg's intense, sundrenched lyrics, which have been compared to archaic Greek poetry."- Publishers Weekly "Beautifully crafted poems, vulnerably sensitive, at once piercingly generous and starkly tough-minded . . ."-William Arrowsmith

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1991

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

[Ron Mohring]

I have to give this a 5 because of the number of times I've read it, and because this is one of the books I'd save from my apartment if it were on fire.

[Kevin]

The speaker of these poems seems entirely out of touch with the privileged position she speaks from (world tourist to remote areas of Greece, Mexico, etc) and so makes the emotions she tries to convey (usually vague pain, hurt, depression?) seem small, petty and solipsistic. She fails to acheive any kind of poetic diction and her political gestures -- usually sexual politics -- are absurd.

[Kasandra]

I took a long time with this book. It was hard to get into, and my responses to the poems varied widely. There were 5-star poems, and "why was this written/I don't get it at all" poems. Many were set in Greece, in the countryside or by the ocean, and I enjoyed the nature and country scenes within, though often they seemed to be painted in terms of white privilege, as in "look at these simple people, this simple way of life, it's so much more honest than ours, so romantic". A number of poems deal with love and its loss, middle-aged desire, longing, and loneliness. Gregg is subtle; her work is often very much understated, but at the same time, there's an intensity pulsing beneath that made me re-read almost every poem. She's an accomplished writer, and perhaps someone more intelligent than myself would have given this book 5 stars - many have! But though I enjoyed some of these poems, the book didn't feel compelling; once I started it, I never felt any urge pushing me to read more. The poems didn't linger in the mind, though many lines here and there stood out in terms of vibrance or poignancy. I want to read another of her books, to see whether it's just her voice I didn't often connect with, or this book specifically.

[H]

I love Linda Gregg’s titles— “Four Hand Improvisation #2” “These Printed Words are a Place”

I think Part IV is the strongest


“I was offended by the lessening/ by the cheap renewal. By a going on/ that gradually left the important behind/ but now it’s different. I was the large/ and near, and endings more final. If it must/ be winter, let it be absolutely winter” (34).

“It is summer and I am in the middle/ of my life. Alone and happy.” (42)

“I notice the ones in pain/ shine more than the others./ it’s so they can be found,/ I think.” (51).

“Art, i was thinking, is the imitation of what/ we called nothing when we lived on the earth” (56).

“Poetry is the voice of what has no voice/ to tell the difference between sand and dirt, rocks/ and heat, life and death, love and this other thing” (65).

“I get on my knees/ this gray april to see if open crocuses have a smell./ I must live in the suffering and desire of what/ rises and falls. The terrible blind grinding/ of gears against our bodies and lives” (83).

“The stars reel in the dark./ Vermeer’s woman holds up the scale/ to weigh the pearls in the quiet room./ and each time something happens/ to make them balance in the satin light” (86).

[Jenna Murray]

loved it! i don't even want to mark all my favorite poems, bc it was a good portion of the book (i may have tagged majority) -- Linda Gregg's poetry is complete, and utterly still. there is a ton to learn from her. I do note that there are moments of disappointment w/ her depiction of poverty / poc. was hoping for a bit more from the 90s.

[Jordan]

poetry for complex women who love to go greece when they are afflicted by men to stare at olive trees and sheep and billowing white sheets, searching for some primordial feminine presence to imbue them w magic (me)

[Amie Whittemore]

Ugh, Linda Gregg. Such a gem, such a wisdom, such a peony.

[R.K. Cowles]

3 1/2 stars

[Ives 🐰]

unfortunately just wasn’t my thing

[Jeremy Allan]

Here are some loose notes I took after finishing this book:

—A book about the Other. We don't need training in psychoanalysis to see "desire" as the urge to close the gap with the Other.

—How doubtful I am of those who would suspend desire, act as if there is no Other, all things being one.

—But Otherness can be hyperbolized, distorted.

—A seemingly blank I/Eye, passing through Otherness. Witnessing? Is it less violent for its use of understatement?

—It is understated. Spare speaker in contextualized isolation - observing. A lot of not-doing.

These notes could probably be applied equally to many books of contemporary American poetry. Many of those books would not be as good as Gregg's. Still, as a person who lives as a foreigner, and as a poet who has written from the position of the alien, something about the form of witness in this book irked me. Even if, without a doubt, Gregg is a talented writer and, at times, an absolute master of craft.

[Abby]

Quiet, thoughtful poems, poems that seem to unravel at the end, sometimes inexplicably, sometimes for a very good purpose.