Nurture: Poems

by Maxine Kumin

Poems deal with animals, compassion, ecology, the seasons, travel, art, and memory

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1989

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

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Truly a three and a half star effort.

This is my introduction to Maxine Kumin's work, and I enjoyed it enough. The first section was billed as her most true to form: pastoral and centralized around animals. Interestingly though, I found this section the least impressive of the three. Her middle section stood out to be strong, well-traveled, and drew some interesting connections to other poets.

While her work tends to be more prosaic (which can be a bit uninteresting to me at times) she does it in a poetic and well-balanced fashion. I would be interested to read more of her work, specifically Up Country.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book of poems.

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great. The long poem, "Marianne, My Mother and Me," is a tour-de-force.

[Patricia N. McLaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite poems:
“Nurture”
“Sleeping with Animals”
“Night Launch”
“A Calling”