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Ten Poems to Set You Free
Ten Poems to Set You Free inspires you to claim the life that is truly yours. In today’s world it is deceptively easy to lose sight of our direction and the things that matter and give us joy. How quickly the days can slip by, the years all gone, and we, at the end of our lives, mourning the life we dreamed of but never lived. These ten poems, and Roger Housden’s reflections on them, urge us to stand once and for all, and now, in the heart of our own life.
This volume brings together the voices of Thomas Merton, David Whyte, the Basque poet Miguel de Unamuno, Anna Swir from Poland, Stanley Kunitz, the Greek poet C. P. Cavafy, and Jane Hirshfield, as well as three of Housden’s favorites, Rumi, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye. His luminous essays on the poems show us how to integrate the poets’ truth into our own lives.
Roger Housden’s love of poetry and life leaps from every page—so much so that his readers feel they have found a guide and mentor through the extraordinary Ten Poems series. He has opened the eyes and hearts of many, not just to the power of poetry, but to the truth and beauty of the life of the soul. What more can one ask?
This volume brings together the voices of Thomas Merton, David Whyte, the Basque poet Miguel de Unamuno, Anna Swir from Poland, Stanley Kunitz, the Greek poet C. P. Cavafy, and Jane Hirshfield, as well as three of Housden’s favorites, Rumi, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye. His luminous essays on the poems show us how to integrate the poets’ truth into our own lives.
Roger Housden’s love of poetry and life leaps from every page—so much so that his readers feel they have found a guide and mentor through the extraordinary Ten Poems series. He has opened the eyes and hearts of many, not just to the power of poetry, but to the truth and beauty of the life of the soul. What more can one ask?
144 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
32 people are currently reading
262 people want to read
About the author
Roger Housden
45 books121 followersRoger Housden is the author of some twenty books of non fiction, including the best selling Ten Poems series. His new book, SAVED BY BEAUTY: ADVENTURES OF AN AMERICAN ROMANTIC IN IRAN, comes out on May 17 2011 with Broadway Books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 45 reviews
December 30, 2010
If I had to choose a series of books as my all time favorite, it would be Roger Housden's Ten Poems to....
I've discovered my all time favorite poet (Naomi Shihab Nye) because of these books! He chooses the most exquisite, sublime, challenging and inspiring poetry, and his commentaries are superb, analysis that truely gets into the marrow of a poem. This is the perfect series, the perfect gift - boxed set of Roger Housden's Ten Poems... will be life-changing (and I don't use that word lightly.)
LOVE IT.
I've discovered my all time favorite poet (Naomi Shihab Nye) because of these books! He chooses the most exquisite, sublime, challenging and inspiring poetry, and his commentaries are superb, analysis that truely gets into the marrow of a poem. This is the perfect series, the perfect gift - boxed set of Roger Housden's Ten Poems... will be life-changing (and I don't use that word lightly.)
LOVE IT.
April 17, 2024
Nice to have someone to read poetry with!
Housden has chosen some remarkable poems by remarkable poets (see list below). He suggests reading a poem several times before going on to his commentary. Maybe even do so over a series of days, which is what I did. Excellent advice. Doing that gave me time with each poem to sip a little more of its meaning with each reading and each reading I gained more pleasure and more of its power. I took my time to sit with my ideas and impressions. I took about a month to read these ten.
Next to the eloquent poems, Housden's commentary is in a distinct contrast using his every day vernacular. He doesn't write much on the mechanics of the poem but rather focuses on extracting the meaning of each poem. His poem selections and his interpretations are Buddhist-leaning.
All that suits me to a tee. (This isn't a college course, nor was I looking for that.) I simply wanted some good spirit-filled poems along with some helpful insights. And Housden provided exactly that. His reflections often included his personal anecdotes lending a warm touch.
There were a few poems that I especially appreciated his insights; a couple of poems gave me some difficulty in extracting their meanings myself. It was especially nice when he also discussed the poet and poem's background. For the poem "The God Abandons Antony" that was very helpful.
Here are the ten poems. I've bolded those that were most impactful for me but all were very good.
1 Self-Portrait --by David Whyte
2 Lake and Maple --by Jane Hirshfield
3 Throw Yourself Like Seed --by Miguel de Unamuno
4 Unfold Your Own Myth (excerpt) --by Rumi
5 Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches? --by Mary Oliver
6 The Layers --by Stanley Kunitz
7 So Much Happiness --by Naomi Shihab Nye
8 The God Abandons Antony --by C.P. Cavafy
9 Thank You, My Fate --by Anna Swir
10 In Silence --by Thomas Merton
A lovely, contemplative read for those who like poetry and like stopping for some self-inquiry. I will keep my eye out for another title in the "Ten Poems" series.
Housden has chosen some remarkable poems by remarkable poets (see list below). He suggests reading a poem several times before going on to his commentary. Maybe even do so over a series of days, which is what I did. Excellent advice. Doing that gave me time with each poem to sip a little more of its meaning with each reading and each reading I gained more pleasure and more of its power. I took my time to sit with my ideas and impressions. I took about a month to read these ten.
Next to the eloquent poems, Housden's commentary is in a distinct contrast using his every day vernacular. He doesn't write much on the mechanics of the poem but rather focuses on extracting the meaning of each poem. His poem selections and his interpretations are Buddhist-leaning.
All that suits me to a tee. (This isn't a college course, nor was I looking for that.) I simply wanted some good spirit-filled poems along with some helpful insights. And Housden provided exactly that. His reflections often included his personal anecdotes lending a warm touch.
There were a few poems that I especially appreciated his insights; a couple of poems gave me some difficulty in extracting their meanings myself. It was especially nice when he also discussed the poet and poem's background. For the poem "The God Abandons Antony" that was very helpful.
Here are the ten poems. I've bolded those that were most impactful for me but all were very good.
1 Self-Portrait --by David Whyte
2 Lake and Maple --by Jane Hirshfield
3 Throw Yourself Like Seed --by Miguel de Unamuno
4 Unfold Your Own Myth (excerpt) --by Rumi
5 Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches? --by Mary Oliver
6 The Layers --by Stanley Kunitz
7 So Much Happiness --by Naomi Shihab Nye
8 The God Abandons Antony --by C.P. Cavafy
9 Thank You, My Fate --by Anna Swir
10 In Silence --by Thomas Merton
A lovely, contemplative read for those who like poetry and like stopping for some self-inquiry. I will keep my eye out for another title in the "Ten Poems" series.
March 18, 2015
I was a little turned off by the title, because typically these kind of collections seem cheesy. But this book was a paradigm-shifter for me. The poems chosen are brilliant, and the collection served as a window introducing me to the world of Mary Oliver, Stanley Kunitz, David Whyte, and others. I was enthralled by Roger Housden's explanation and personal interpretation of each poem, and followed his encouragement to read each one many times, aloud, silent, sit with the phrases...and then found my own interpretation of them as well. Those which touched me most profoundly were:
"Throw Yourself Like Seed" by Miguel de Unamuno
"The Layers" by Stanely Kunitz
"The God Abandons Antony" by C.F. Cavafy
"Throw Yourself Like Seed" by Miguel de Unamuno
"The Layers" by Stanely Kunitz
"The God Abandons Antony" by C.F. Cavafy
February 2, 2021
will help you figure out the meaning of life--to some degree.
October 13, 2009
All these "Ten Poems to..." are solid, but they'll also be hit or miss since they truly are one man's opinion. This collection deserves credit for being very diverse in topics, authors and tone of the poetry. I found a poem that I really connected with, and I think most readers will share my experience; one poem that will influence you. And that makes this book one worth reading.
December 14, 2010
This anthology stands out to me because of Roger Housden's commentary on the poetry. His honest and straight forward manner in sharing his own story makes me look deeper at my own personal life story and inquire into it. It makes the poetry into medicine for my soul.
September 6, 2008
All of Roger Housden books of poetry have an indepth review of the poem and how it affects his life. I found his reviews helpful in appreciating the poet and the poem.
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September 18, 2022Goodreads is killing me. I have written this review three times now. Usually when I minimize the app it still saves it, but not on this book, for some reason. So now as I go back and forth, collecting phrases to share here, I will save my progress since I don’t have a note app saved on my iPad and clearly that’s too much trouble to find and download now 🙄
I skimmed this book. I wasn’t aware it was a self help book, and as scatterbrained and convoluted my path may seem to others, I’m pretty solid in the mental self-being category. So I didn’t rate it, but from the few passages I read after the poems selected, this author isn’t self aware, he’s repetitive and pretentious.
Some of the poems spoke to me. I was surprised I hadn’t run up on them before.
From Mary Oliver: “Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
From Self Portrait by David Whyte
I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat. I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God.
The Layers by Stanley Kunitz
In my darkest night, when the moon was covered and I roamed through wreckage, a nimbus-clouded voice directed me: “Live in the layers, not on the litter.” Though I lack the art to decipher it, no doubt the next chapter in my book of transformations is already written. I am not done with my changes.
~ Mr. Kunitz was 98 when this book was published, and still writing. He was twice Poet Laureate. His first wife, that he loved greatly, suddenly disappeared and he never heard from again. Before writing this poem his lost his mother, two sisters, and several of his closest friends. He dreamed the two lines about living life in the layers not the litter from a speaking cloud. He woke up immediately, scribbled the lines, and the rest of the poem was written around them. I LOVED that.
The poem So Much Happiness by Naomi Shihab ante struck a chord as well. She writes: “It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness, With sadness there is something to rub against…When the world falls around you, you have pieces to pick up… But happiness floats, it doesn’t need you to hold it down, it doesn’t need anything
~Having all of our everyday ducks in a row—a satisfying job, a good relationship, a good income—is, for most of us, a rare enough experience that, when it happens, we could be forgiven for feeling that we have everything we could ever hope for. But as good as everyday contentment can be— {summarizing here so I don’t have to save this again} it can all be taken away in an instant because we are dependent on outside forces. {and boy did I ever learn that}
“Thank You, My Fate” by Anna Swir
I make love with my dear/ as if I made love dying/ as if I made love praying, tears pour
And the last, a bonus poem, a haiku by Chinese poet Do Hyun Choe:
Silence is what creates love. Movement creates life.
To be still
And still moving-
That is everything
I skimmed this book. I wasn’t aware it was a self help book, and as scatterbrained and convoluted my path may seem to others, I’m pretty solid in the mental self-being category. So I didn’t rate it, but from the few passages I read after the poems selected, this author isn’t self aware, he’s repetitive and pretentious.
Some of the poems spoke to me. I was surprised I hadn’t run up on them before.
From Mary Oliver: “Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?”
From Self Portrait by David Whyte
I want to know if you are willing to live, day by day, with the consequence of love and the bitter unwanted passion of your sure defeat. I have heard, in that fierce embrace, even the gods speak of God.
The Layers by Stanley Kunitz
In my darkest night, when the moon was covered and I roamed through wreckage, a nimbus-clouded voice directed me: “Live in the layers, not on the litter.” Though I lack the art to decipher it, no doubt the next chapter in my book of transformations is already written. I am not done with my changes.
~ Mr. Kunitz was 98 when this book was published, and still writing. He was twice Poet Laureate. His first wife, that he loved greatly, suddenly disappeared and he never heard from again. Before writing this poem his lost his mother, two sisters, and several of his closest friends. He dreamed the two lines about living life in the layers not the litter from a speaking cloud. He woke up immediately, scribbled the lines, and the rest of the poem was written around them. I LOVED that.
The poem So Much Happiness by Naomi Shihab ante struck a chord as well. She writes: “It is difficult to know what to do with so much happiness, With sadness there is something to rub against…When the world falls around you, you have pieces to pick up… But happiness floats, it doesn’t need you to hold it down, it doesn’t need anything
~Having all of our everyday ducks in a row—a satisfying job, a good relationship, a good income—is, for most of us, a rare enough experience that, when it happens, we could be forgiven for feeling that we have everything we could ever hope for. But as good as everyday contentment can be— {summarizing here so I don’t have to save this again} it can all be taken away in an instant because we are dependent on outside forces. {and boy did I ever learn that}
“Thank You, My Fate” by Anna Swir
I make love with my dear/ as if I made love dying/ as if I made love praying, tears pour
And the last, a bonus poem, a haiku by Chinese poet Do Hyun Choe:
Silence is what creates love. Movement creates life.
To be still
And still moving-
That is everything
December 15, 2017
This niche title uses vocabulary as vehicles for self-help. As in his previous Ten Poems to Change Your Life Again and Again, Housden expands on the work of poets both well known (e.g., Thomas Merton) and obscure (e.g., Anna Swir), with an eye toward improving oneself. Housden’s ardor for verse–it is “the spark, the fire at our center … the one thing worthy of our true name”–approaches infatuation; are certain revelations present merely because Housden is looking too hard? Also, because he draws on some of the same poets here that he did in his earlier books (e.g., Rumi, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye), Housden gives the impression that he’s only repeating himself.
Find reviews of books for men at Books for Dudes, Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal. Copyright Library Journal.
Find reviews of books for men at Books for Dudes, Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal. Copyright Library Journal.
March 20, 2017
While I have read most of Housden's other "10 Poems" collections as well as his other collections and have liked them all, I liked his essays in this fine small collection best of all. Especially remarkable is the essay on Anna Swir's "Thank You, My Fate."
In this essay, more than any other of his writings, I felt that Housden's reactions to the poem were deeply felt, profoundly important to him, and, most of all, most beautifully expressed in his writing--intimate revelations personal yet universal. His insight, "By contrast, sensations alone--however orgasmic--ultimately fail to deliver the goods....To skim the surface of life, however, is likely to leave us on our own, and, ultimately, lonely," (p. 112) reflects the thinking of not only the poet but also of Husden whose life experience is recalled and made all the more intense through the experience of this poem, resulting in Housden's profound final conclusion, "How great our possibilities, how small our lives." (p. 114)
Housden selects truly the poetry that is the best the world has to offer and exposes himself in his reaction to it. And, in so doing, he helps us find the best, the deepest, and the inmost feelings of ourselves.
In this essay, more than any other of his writings, I felt that Housden's reactions to the poem were deeply felt, profoundly important to him, and, most of all, most beautifully expressed in his writing--intimate revelations personal yet universal. His insight, "By contrast, sensations alone--however orgasmic--ultimately fail to deliver the goods....To skim the surface of life, however, is likely to leave us on our own, and, ultimately, lonely," (p. 112) reflects the thinking of not only the poet but also of Husden whose life experience is recalled and made all the more intense through the experience of this poem, resulting in Housden's profound final conclusion, "How great our possibilities, how small our lives." (p. 114)
Housden selects truly the poetry that is the best the world has to offer and exposes himself in his reaction to it. And, in so doing, he helps us find the best, the deepest, and the inmost feelings of ourselves.
January 21, 2018
Housden selects ten poems that resonates with setting your life free. Each poem echoes this thought. The selection of poems and poets is excellent.
David Whyte " Love asks us to offer up our heart for breaking..."
Jane Hirschfield nurtures us with
" I want the way
the water sees without ears
shivers Without fill or fear
at the gentlest touch"
Mary Oliver questions us. "Listen are you breathing just a a little and calling it a life?"
The Layers by Stanley Kunitz, So Much Happiness by Naomi Shabab Nye, are some of the authors Housed analyzes. He takes apart each poem, sometimes providing a biographical context, a comparison with other work by the same poet, lines from other poets and some autobiographical information. For the most part this book remains interesting and is easy to read. Occasionally it wonders off into the borish. But it is still a recommend because of the high interest and great poems.
David Whyte " Love asks us to offer up our heart for breaking..."
Jane Hirschfield nurtures us with
" I want the way
the water sees without ears
shivers Without fill or fear
at the gentlest touch"
Mary Oliver questions us. "Listen are you breathing just a a little and calling it a life?"
The Layers by Stanley Kunitz, So Much Happiness by Naomi Shabab Nye, are some of the authors Housed analyzes. He takes apart each poem, sometimes providing a biographical context, a comparison with other work by the same poet, lines from other poets and some autobiographical information. For the most part this book remains interesting and is easy to read. Occasionally it wonders off into the borish. But it is still a recommend because of the high interest and great poems.
November 6, 2019
The first of the “ten poems to” books I’ve read. I found it on the shelf at my library and decided I’d give it a go. I’m a bit intimidated by poetry. In a similar way to how I’m intimidated by cryptic crosswords. A fear of “Am I smart enough?” I guess. Anyway, that’s about me not the book, but gives context. I enjoyed this poem and essay approach. Illustrating points by introducing other poems. Describing interpretations. As other reviews have said it’s unlikely that all ten poems will resonate but I certainly found two or three. For my own notes they were:
Self-portrait by David Whyte
Lake and Maple by Jane Hirshfield
So much happiness by Naomi Shibab Nye
Self-portrait by David Whyte
Lake and Maple by Jane Hirshfield
So much happiness by Naomi Shibab Nye
April 20, 2019
The poems in this little collection spoke to me, as did the author's responses to each poem. The poems are poignant, inspiring, and insightful. Housden has also written other "Ten Poems To...." books. I will be looking for them. Housden's responses to the poems are both personal and worldly. Apparently each of his "Ten Poems To......" books includes poems by Mary Oliver (a personal favorite) and Rumi.
March 15, 2022
Directors know that the first decision in producing a great play lies in the casting and here, Housden selects (or casts) ten marvelous poems upon which to meditate. My favorites included these: "Self Portrait," by David Whyte, "Throw Yourself Like Seed," by Miguel de Unamuno, "Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches?" by Mary Oliver, and "In Silence," by Thomas Merton.
Being free.
Living true to one's own self.
Is there any other topic as important?
Being free.
Living true to one's own self.
Is there any other topic as important?
August 7, 2017
The title had me very worried that this would be cheesy. Then there's my own historical distaste for poetry. I'm happy to say this book conquered both. This editor/author helped me understand and appreciate poetry in ways I never have, and in small bite-sized pieces, which was perfect for me. I'm very glad I read it and will likely pick up other collections he's put together in this format.
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August 20, 2020Mr. Housden writes some of my favorite books
I especially enjoy his ten poems series each and everyone of them! He not only shares his love of poetry but explains how to better understand poetry as it relates to one's life.
Thank you and keep on discussing poems with the rest of us!
I especially enjoy his ten poems series each and everyone of them! He not only shares his love of poetry but explains how to better understand poetry as it relates to one's life.
Thank you and keep on discussing poems with the rest of us!
February 8, 2023
I enjoyed the poems in this book and the information about the authors, but for the most part I didn’t feel the commentary accompanying the poems really added to them. I felt some of the insight or interpretations were off.
December 2, 2024
Beautiful book. I had low expectations for the few pages of discussion after each poem, and hadn’t intended on even reading them. But they were thoughtful, insightful, and added richness to the already wonderful well-known poems that were the main work of the book.
May 30, 2017
I love this series, the poems Housden picks and his helpful comments on each one. Great for our spiritual group.
March 12, 2018
Love the selections, the book structure, and the thoughtful explanations of bits and pieces of the poems. I was exposed to many “new” poets to look into which I appreciate. So many outstanding love new of prose that are simply arresting to the soul - in a good way.
August 3, 2018
It was okay. I was introduced to a few poets that I've never read before and his insights were easily understood and some hit home. Loved the poems.
February 10, 2019
These never disappoint and never fail to bring me to a new place of peace and understanding.
March 13, 2019
Housden's collections of poems are I interesting to read.
April 29, 2019
4.5 Super helpful book to get you into poetry. He picked out amazing poems. Each chapter has the poem and then a short discussion on the poem. I’d like to read the others in this series
March 10, 2021
"..good poetry emerges from the wellsprings of the human spirit."
That is so beautiful and true. I guess I have read some "not so good" poetry, because something from the "wellsprings of the human spirit" should be a feeling that maybe transfers to the reader. In this book of poetry, I can clearly see that these 10 poems actually did transfer to the original reader (aka the author) of this book.
I have also seen those who have had their spirits lifted by these ten poems, so I know that it is possible. But for me, no spirit lift off.
"...and if we are in the right place in ourselves to hear it, it can call forth our own inarticulate knowings, and offer a mirror into the core and the truth of our own life."
Perhaps, I wasn't in the right place in myself. I liked the sentence, especially the words, "inarticulate knowings." Keep on truck'n Monsieur Housden.
That is so beautiful and true. I guess I have read some "not so good" poetry, because something from the "wellsprings of the human spirit" should be a feeling that maybe transfers to the reader. In this book of poetry, I can clearly see that these 10 poems actually did transfer to the original reader (aka the author) of this book.
I have also seen those who have had their spirits lifted by these ten poems, so I know that it is possible. But for me, no spirit lift off.
"...and if we are in the right place in ourselves to hear it, it can call forth our own inarticulate knowings, and offer a mirror into the core and the truth of our own life."
Perhaps, I wasn't in the right place in myself. I liked the sentence, especially the words, "inarticulate knowings." Keep on truck'n Monsieur Housden.
August 1, 2014
p.27 – Love asks us to offer up our heart for breaking. In short, it seems to ask the impossible.
We can only respond to love with all that we are, which includes our frailties and shortcomings.
The ego, the personal identity that is constructed around our needs and wants and fears, is always defeated by love in any event. The ego is incapable of loving. Only when some other identity emerges in us, one with firm eyes, can love begin to seep through the cracks of our life. but then, apart from our daily fears and failures, there will always be death, which will scatter our dreams and our loves like dust in a strong wind.
p.82 – He [Kunitz] was teaching poetry to a class, when he suddenly understood that the first great task of the poetic imagination is to create the self – the person who will write the poem. “In the writing,” he said, “you are making yourself.” I was reminded of Keats, who spoke of life as a “vale of soul-making.” And of Gerard Manley Hopkins, too, who spoke of the “taste of oneself” as being the most important thing we can know. Sometimes the voice of the soul directly challenges the structure of our personal life. it may require us to leave an empty marriage, for example. Or prompt us to move on when our work has ceased to engage us. Authenticity and daily life are not always an easy match.
p.108 – We told them [our friends] that, after fourteen years, we knew that our lives were taking us in different directions, that we needed to part, despite all the love and companionship we had known. That is the closest I have come in my own life to Mark Antony in Cavafy’s poem, standing at the window listening to the departing joy of his life. what that evening did for me was to bring to the forefront my love for my partner, instead of obscuring it with all the reasons that we were leaving each other. In effect – I knew then – that there was no reason, other than the inevitable procession of a life. that evening stood in clear contrast to the many other times that I had hidden, “as Leonard Cohen sings, “behind the cause and effect.”
To listen to the course of our life, to accept it with deep emotion, instead of trying to bargain with God, with our lover, ever our enemy – and instead of trying to follow the currently fashionable idea of creating a reality of our own choosing – to listen in this way is to keep the embers of our life burning even in our darkest winter.
May we, too, have the strength of character to say good-bye to that which is leaving us, and to open our arms to the great unknown that always follows.
We can only respond to love with all that we are, which includes our frailties and shortcomings.
The ego, the personal identity that is constructed around our needs and wants and fears, is always defeated by love in any event. The ego is incapable of loving. Only when some other identity emerges in us, one with firm eyes, can love begin to seep through the cracks of our life. but then, apart from our daily fears and failures, there will always be death, which will scatter our dreams and our loves like dust in a strong wind.
p.82 – He [Kunitz] was teaching poetry to a class, when he suddenly understood that the first great task of the poetic imagination is to create the self – the person who will write the poem. “In the writing,” he said, “you are making yourself.” I was reminded of Keats, who spoke of life as a “vale of soul-making.” And of Gerard Manley Hopkins, too, who spoke of the “taste of oneself” as being the most important thing we can know. Sometimes the voice of the soul directly challenges the structure of our personal life. it may require us to leave an empty marriage, for example. Or prompt us to move on when our work has ceased to engage us. Authenticity and daily life are not always an easy match.
p.108 – We told them [our friends] that, after fourteen years, we knew that our lives were taking us in different directions, that we needed to part, despite all the love and companionship we had known. That is the closest I have come in my own life to Mark Antony in Cavafy’s poem, standing at the window listening to the departing joy of his life. what that evening did for me was to bring to the forefront my love for my partner, instead of obscuring it with all the reasons that we were leaving each other. In effect – I knew then – that there was no reason, other than the inevitable procession of a life. that evening stood in clear contrast to the many other times that I had hidden, “as Leonard Cohen sings, “behind the cause and effect.”
To listen to the course of our life, to accept it with deep emotion, instead of trying to bargain with God, with our lover, ever our enemy – and instead of trying to follow the currently fashionable idea of creating a reality of our own choosing – to listen in this way is to keep the embers of our life burning even in our darkest winter.
May we, too, have the strength of character to say good-bye to that which is leaving us, and to open our arms to the great unknown that always follows.
February 16, 2017
Not really what I was hoping for, but lots of in depth discussion about the poems and meanings.
January 30, 2017
Roger Housden's Tem Poems to Set You Free is an excellent way for a novice poetry reader, like myself, to test the waters. Each poem is followed by an essay discussing the poem, which helped me to learn how to read the poems better. With each essay, Housden drew my attention to aspects of poems that were initially lost on me, such as a change in tone or studying a phrase for layers of meaning. This passage discussing Mary Oliver's poem Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches? Particularly struck a chord:
"An attentive reading, especially a reading aloud, is an absorption, not just into the subject matter and the meaning, but into the body of the poem, the lilt, the way, the texture of it. You breathe it in, and you sway along. That is why a good poem is its own message, its own magic. Prose, on the other hand, more often than not tells you about things; you receive the experience at one remove."
Such a beautiful way to describe how poetry can say so much with so little – or how so few words can cause such a deep impact or understanding. This book was truly an enriching experience.
"An attentive reading, especially a reading aloud, is an absorption, not just into the subject matter and the meaning, but into the body of the poem, the lilt, the way, the texture of it. You breathe it in, and you sway along. That is why a good poem is its own message, its own magic. Prose, on the other hand, more often than not tells you about things; you receive the experience at one remove."
Such a beautiful way to describe how poetry can say so much with so little – or how so few words can cause such a deep impact or understanding. This book was truly an enriching experience.
February 6, 2011
Each of the ten poems are accompanied by the editor's reflections with the purpose of explaining how the poems espouse agency.
Out of the ten poems, what I liked most are Lake and Maple (by Jane Hirshfield), Throw Yourself Like Seed (by Miguel de Unamuno) and So Much Happiness (by Naomi Shihab Nye). I did not delve too much into the accompanying expositions.
The most beneficial aspects about this collection for me is the introduction to these luminary poets and the list of recommended readings.
On the whole however, I find the collection to resonate like a Dr. Phil episode and not sufficiently sublime.
The insert biography of the editor corroborates, "He give a small number of individual coaching sessions by phone on the transformational power of poetry and the life themes covered in the Ten Poems series."
Out of the ten poems, what I liked most are Lake and Maple (by Jane Hirshfield), Throw Yourself Like Seed (by Miguel de Unamuno) and So Much Happiness (by Naomi Shihab Nye). I did not delve too much into the accompanying expositions.
The most beneficial aspects about this collection for me is the introduction to these luminary poets and the list of recommended readings.
On the whole however, I find the collection to resonate like a Dr. Phil episode and not sufficiently sublime.
The insert biography of the editor corroborates, "He give a small number of individual coaching sessions by phone on the transformational power of poetry and the life themes covered in the Ten Poems series."
December 30, 2016
Not my usual genre, but I decided to borrow this from our library. Needed a fresh way of reframing some of my emotions, hopes, and expectations. For me, in this month, it was the perfect choice.
Ten distinct poems, each on a theme of rebalancing our lives. Complemented with Housden's insights into the poetry and the challenges in being free as our authentic and spiritual selves.
Not a quick read, at least not for me. I read each poem on three days, and accompanying insights from Housden on at least two of those days. Just letting it sink in.
Looking forward to trying some of his other books too!
Ten distinct poems, each on a theme of rebalancing our lives. Complemented with Housden's insights into the poetry and the challenges in being free as our authentic and spiritual selves.
Not a quick read, at least not for me. I read each poem on three days, and accompanying insights from Housden on at least two of those days. Just letting it sink in.
Looking forward to trying some of his other books too!
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