Geode

by Susan Barba

geode is rich with shining interiors and tactile relationships, delicate human to delicate earth, small delusions of ownership against wider backdrops of loss and time. Poems acting as guides, helping us navigate and remember, create an intricate overlay of worlds, humans and trees.—Naomi Shihab Nye, New York Times Magazine

Susan Barba's new collection of poems resembles the spheroid stone of its name; when cracked open, a glittering and fascinating crystalline structure is revealed but the stony sphere she offers us, and the beauty within, is nothing less than the earth. With anguish and praise, in the spirit of both the ode and the elegy, Barba considers our time within the larger scale of deep-time. The species decreasing in number and disappeared and the possibility of human extinction haunt this book, while new generations and the possibility of renunciation of our old ways animate it. Here is the world, Barba reminds us, like a ball, in our hands.

Genres: Poetry

Kindle Edition

Published April 7, 2020

About the author

Susan Barba is the author of the poetry collections GEODE (2020) and FAIR SUN (2017), which was awarded the Anahid Literary Prize from Columbia University. Her poems have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, The New York Review of Books, Poetry, Raritan, and elsewhere, and her poetry has been translated into German, Armenian, and Romanian. She earned her doctorate in comparative literature from Harvard University, and she has received fellowships from the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. She works as a senior editor for New York Review Books.

Reviews

[Eugenie Flaherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

In these difficult times, those of us who are fortunate are forced to slow down, to walk in nature, to dig in the dirt, as we keep our distance from other people. Susan Barba's geode, a book of elegant, haunting, evocative poetry, reminds us not only of the beauty of the earth, but also of the earth's history, of the earth's fragility, and of our deep relationship with the earth, a relationship which we lose at our peril. Barba also has a deep fundamental understanding of human nature, at its best and at its worst; read her poem Practice. This is a book to read slowly, to savor, perhaps to read before or after a walk in the woods. It will make you enjoy our great earth more.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm reading this aloud. Each morning. Repeating some poems several times, which helps so much in my life: my voice is weary so this is exercise for it; my spirits are dulled by sameness so this brightens them; my mind is forgetful and this makes me recall my interest in geology and learn new vocab. And my need for beautiful words in my mouth that used to be satisfied by singing (my voice is also old) is being addressed. These are poems to, about, and, imiganitively, by earth, air, fire, and water. I'm eager to continue discovering them.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous. Stunning. Mind-blowing.

[Poppy Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

This spare -- and deep-- collection of insights into our connection with the earth, with the beauty to be found under a rock, in a dandelion fluff, in the very aroma of earth will linger with you long after you close the cover. Ms Barba's pairing of words, the music in her language and her imagery is in stark contrast to the earth's devastation by our supposed dominance of it. I loved this collection, and highly recommend it.