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Jaguar of Sweet Laughter: New and Selected Poems
In A Natural History of the Senses Diane Ackerman revealed herself as a naturalist who writes with the sensuous immediately of a great poet. Now Jaguar of Sweet Laughter presents the work of a poet with the precise and wondering eye of a gifted naturalist.
Ackermans's Olympian vision records and transforms landscapes from Amazonia to Antarctica, while her imaginative empathy penetrates the otherness of hummingbirds, deer, and trilobites. But even as they draw readers into the wild heart of nature, Ackerman's poems are indelible reminders of what it is to be a human being—the "jaguar of sweet laughter" that, according to Mayan mythology, astonished the world because it was the first animal to speak.
Ackermans's Olympian vision records and transforms landscapes from Amazonia to Antarctica, while her imaginative empathy penetrates the otherness of hummingbirds, deer, and trilobites. But even as they draw readers into the wild heart of nature, Ackerman's poems are indelible reminders of what it is to be a human being—the "jaguar of sweet laughter" that, according to Mayan mythology, astonished the world because it was the first animal to speak.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Diane Ackerman
73 books1,114 followersDiane Ackerman has been the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction in addition to many other awards and recognitions for her work, which include the bestsellers The Zookeeper’s Wife and A Natural History of the Senses.
The Zookeeper’s Wife, a little known true story of WWII, became a New York Times bestseller, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as, "a groundbreaking work of nonfiction." A movie of The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, releases in theaters March 31st, 2017 from Focus Features.
She lives with her husband Paul West in Ithaca, New York.
The Zookeeper’s Wife, a little known true story of WWII, became a New York Times bestseller, and received the Orion Book Award, which honored it as, "a groundbreaking work of nonfiction." A movie of The Zookeeper’s Wife, starring Jessica Chastain and Daniel Brühl, releases in theaters March 31st, 2017 from Focus Features.
She lives with her husband Paul West in Ithaca, New York.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
July 24, 2010
This is one of my favorite books ever. Many poems in this book seem to be taken from heart. Beautiful words and images and thoughts put together so artfully. My copy of this book is worn and well loved.
August 18, 2011
Probably my favorite modern-poet. The poems are utterfly lush, almost 3D in their descriptions and feelings. I dare anyone to not be moved.
December 23, 2024
I enjoyed these. I liked how they were sensual and intellectual.
January 27, 2021
Enjoyed this wide ranging book of poetry. The author wrote about everything from anthropology to sense of smell to the city of Pittsburgh.
April 8, 2012
Oh, poetry. Sigh.
When I was in high school and my brain worked at twice the speed that it currently does, I was a poetry freak. I performed poetry in competitions; I read any poetry book that I could get my hands on; and of course I wrote my own poetry and submitted it for publication. Somewhere along the timeline of growing up, poetry fell away from me, or I from it. This is my first foray back into the land of poetry for probably about 10-12 years. I was disappointed. It may be that I am not as "deep" of a person as I was back then. It may be that I don't have the time to peruse every stanza for hidden influxes and meanings. It may even be that I've grown up and moved on. I am not sure that it is any of these things. I think that this collection of poetry was just not my style.
Things that stand out in my mind from the writings were a poem about dead frogs in a pool and one with a stanza about a polar bear's menses. Hmmm...... and I wonder why I was disappointed. There were a lot of poems about nature and science. There was a small travelogue going from the Amazon, to Antarctica to Space. There was a lot written about "important" people (many of whom I had to look up to make certain I knew who they were).
It was interesting to see Ackerman's transformation throughout the time that she was writing. When I got to the section from "Wife of Light", I got excited. The first two poems in this section were what I remembered poetry being like. But then, it returned to the weirdness that I had been reading in the previous excerpts. Her use of repetition in "Beija-Flor" was neat. But the poem is titled "Beija-Flor" (?). The section from "Reverse Thunder" also showed Ackerman's change in style as she progressed as the stanzas were longer and things were a bit more grizzly.
Overall, I was bored. I felt looked down upon and unintelligent while reading this collection. I felt like the kid eating by herself in the corner of the cafeteria while the "cool, exotic" kids drank their soy milk. I did not enjoy it.
When I was in high school and my brain worked at twice the speed that it currently does, I was a poetry freak. I performed poetry in competitions; I read any poetry book that I could get my hands on; and of course I wrote my own poetry and submitted it for publication. Somewhere along the timeline of growing up, poetry fell away from me, or I from it. This is my first foray back into the land of poetry for probably about 10-12 years. I was disappointed. It may be that I am not as "deep" of a person as I was back then. It may be that I don't have the time to peruse every stanza for hidden influxes and meanings. It may even be that I've grown up and moved on. I am not sure that it is any of these things. I think that this collection of poetry was just not my style.
Things that stand out in my mind from the writings were a poem about dead frogs in a pool and one with a stanza about a polar bear's menses. Hmmm...... and I wonder why I was disappointed. There were a lot of poems about nature and science. There was a small travelogue going from the Amazon, to Antarctica to Space. There was a lot written about "important" people (many of whom I had to look up to make certain I knew who they were).
It was interesting to see Ackerman's transformation throughout the time that she was writing. When I got to the section from "Wife of Light", I got excited. The first two poems in this section were what I remembered poetry being like. But then, it returned to the weirdness that I had been reading in the previous excerpts. Her use of repetition in "Beija-Flor" was neat. But the poem is titled "Beija-Flor" (?). The section from "Reverse Thunder" also showed Ackerman's change in style as she progressed as the stanzas were longer and things were a bit more grizzly.
Overall, I was bored. I felt looked down upon and unintelligent while reading this collection. I felt like the kid eating by herself in the corner of the cafeteria while the "cool, exotic" kids drank their soy milk. I did not enjoy it.
April 27, 2012
Bought a friend's old book as she is preparing to leave for Canada. Parting with books is never easy - I always have a difficult time letting go of works which probably knew me better than I know myself. But imagine passing them on to someone else, someone who is looking for her life, too, among the pages:
Kismet
Diane Ackerman
"What can be said can't be said,
and can't be whistled either."
- Wittgenstein
Wittgenstein was wrong: when lovers kiss
they whistle into each other's mouth
a truth old and sayable as the sun,
for flesh is palace, aurora borealis,
and the world is all subtraction in the end.
The world is all subtraction in the end,
yet, in a small vaulted room at the azimuth
of desire, even our awkward numbers sum.
Love's syllogism only love can test.
But who would quarrel with its sprawling proof?
The daftest logic brings such sweet unrest.
Love speaks in tongues, its natural idiom.
Tingling, your lips drift down the xylophone
of my ribs, and I close my eyes and chime.
June 21, 2007
I've always been a graet fan of Diane Ackerman so I felt like it was my obligation to read her early poems. I love the one about how hummingbirds sometimes die in their sleep. I love the Amazon poems, too. It's a book I'll go back to again and again and I suspect the older I get the more I'll appreciate the more personal poems.
January 26, 2011
This book was one of a friend's (KD) near favourite books, and so I read it with curiosity and with fairly high expectations. i was disappointed, overall. It is good, but not great. I felt that Ackerman had written with great passion and some eloquence, but no depth. How did I describe it to KD? Good writing, but only skin deep.
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January 6, 2019some of the nature seems a bit shoehorned into the prose but in general it is very evocative and image laden
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews