Light-Gathering Poems

by Liz Rosenberg

An anthology of poems that heal, offer hope, and inspire.

"She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes."
--Lord Byron

Here is a collection of beauty, inspiration and light. Liz Rosenberg has gathered poems of sunlight and starry skies, of light flickering in a dark and difficult world. Where light literally shines in one poem, in another it may be represented more light in the deepest of loves, a smooth pebble found in a pocket, and even, in the greatest despair, as in Shelley's great line, "If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? " Whether about hope, beauty, comfort or healing, this collection is filled with poems of light.

Like Rosenberg's award-winning Earth-Shattering Poems , this multicultural anthology features poems by authors from around the world and from ancient to contemporary times. Some of the poets included are Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Jane Kenyon, Rainer Maria Rilke, Christina Rossetti, Rumi, and Ruth Stone.

Genres: Poetry

160 pages, Hardcover

First published January 28, 2000

About the author

Liz Rosenberg is an American poet, novelist, children's book author, and book reviewer. She is currently a professor of English at Binghamton University.

Reviews

[HeatherREADS · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not my style

[Sean]

Dog-eared:
"Those Winter Sundays," Robert Hayden
"Look," Rolf Jacobsen
A haiku by Arakida Moritake
"I Was Wearing a Belt Buckle," Charles Reznikoff

[AnandaTashie · Rating 4 out of 5]

100 pages of poems and 37 of brief biographies. The poems are about light, both literal and figurative. I would have preferred if they hadn't been alphabetized by author (something about having them all mixed up works better in anthologies to me :D). Though I liked some more than others, it was an overall really beautiful collection.

My favorites:

Japan by Billy Collins
"...When I say it at the window, / the bell is the world / and I am the moth resting there. // When I say it into the mirror, / I am the heavy bell / and the moth is life with its papery wings. // And later, when I say it to you in the dark, / you are the bell, / and I am the tongue of the bell, ringing you, // and the moth has flown / from its line / and moves like a hinge in the air above our bed."

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
"... The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, / But I have promises to keep, / And miles to go before I sleep, / And miles to go before I sleep."

Sunflower Sutra by Allen Ginsberg
"...A perfect beauty of a sunflower! a perfect excellent lovely / sunflower existence! a sweet natural eye to the new hip / moon, woke up alive and excited grasping in the sunset / shadow sunrise golden monthly breeze!..."

What The Living Do by Marie Howe
"... Parking. Slamming the car door shut in the cold. What you / called that yearning. // What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and / the winter to pass. We want / whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss - we want more / and more and then more of it. // But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of / myself in the window glass, / say, the window of a corner video store, and I'm griped / by a cherishing so deep / for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned / coat that I'm left speechless: / I am living, I remember you."

On Days Like This by Das Lanzillotti
"... When the last of the night spills / into the ravine. / When my mind is filled with the / thought of smooth stones. / It is on days like this..."

Recuerdo by Edna St. Vincent Millay
"... We were very tired, we were very merry - / We had gone back and forth all night on a ferry; / And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear, / From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere; / And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold, / And the sun rose dipping, a bucketful of gold..."

The Summer Day by Mary Oliver
"...Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? / Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?"
(Even though I read it in another anthology, and I now have it in a book of her own poetry, it still deserves mentioning!)

#82 by Rumi
"Let the beauty we love be what we do. / There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground."

Green Apples by Ruth Stone
"... The wind was shaking me all night long; / Shaking me in my seep / Like a definition of love, / Saying, in this moment, / Here, now."

Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night by Dylan Thomas

... As for the biographies, I just read over the ones of interest. Something interesting that I didn't know / remember - Walt Whitman self-published Leaves of Grass, and he worked on it for a whopping forty years!

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't read a lot of poetry. This is probably the only book of poetry I've actually read and finished. I have to say, I now want to read more poetry. I probably didn't get the complex poetic structures and I definitely missed most of the metaphoric imagery, but I liked what I read. Here's to reading more poetry in 2015.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful anthology. I'm happy I took the time to read it. For my full review, please visit my book review blog 5-squared .

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

some very touching stuff in here.