Connecting the Dots: Poems

by Maxine Kumin

"Kumin's is a poetry of wide sympathy and tact in which the ecumenical flavor is dominant. . . . This collection is full of generational severance and renewal, and a tart and compassionate irony."― The New Yorker In these new poems, her eleventh collection, the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet focuses on the themes of family, friendship, the pleasures and rigors of rural life and the animal world that have always engaged her powerfully and fruitfully. Change and the things that never change attract Kumin's attention equally. Whether chronicling the bounty of summer, the cycle of seasons, or memories of youthful parties, her voice is clear, wise, and compelling.

Genres: Poetry

88 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

Maxine Kumin's 17th poetry collection, published in the spring of 2010, is Where I Live: New and Selected Poems 1990-2010. Her awards include the Pulitzer and Ruth Lilly Poetry Prizes, the Poets’ Prize, and the Harvard Arts and Robert Frost Medals. A former US poet laureate, she and her husband lived on a farm in New Hampshire. Maxine Kumin died in 2014.

Reviews

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of these poems, unusually prosaic (notice the paragraph-length stanzas), seem better suited for a different literary genre, perhaps memoir (“Letters,” “New Year’s Eve, 1959”) or creative nonfiction (“In Praise of the New Transfer Station,” “Down East News Item”).

Favorite Poems:
“Beans Beans Beans”
“The Riddle of Noah”

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

A couple really nice ones.

[Tara Betts]

Stunning crown of sonnets. I also like the poem about beans and her grandson.