Sunday, May 24, 2020

Tomas Tranströmer Selected Poems 1954 - 1986 --ed by Robert Hass

Nonfiction / Poetry
208 pages
5 Stars

Seldom has a book of translated poems struck such a chord with me.

The very first line of the very first poem had me: Prelude // Awakening is a parachute jump from the dream. I knew, then, I was in thrall to a Master. What a wonderful introduction. My only complaint is I don't read Swedish, and I would love to read these in the original.

When I'm involved in a good book of poetry, I often find myself underling special lines, marking poems I really like, that speak to me in whole or in part. I'm guessing 50% of the poems in this book affected me so, such as these lines from The Gallery:

"Because the margins will finally rise
over their edges
and drown the text."

"It happens, but seldom,
that one of us really sees the other."

"It is his life, it is his labyrinth."

I look forward to finding and reading more of his work. 

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