Ledger: Poems by Jane Hirshfield 2021
Hirshfield’s ninth book of poetry is another beauty. Her unique background enables her to incorporate science, Zen, Chinese poetry of Issa and Bansho, and an extra-ordinary ability to closely observe nature, humans, and their interactions in the world.
Other than one long prose poem, these works nearly all fit on one page, and many of them are only a few lines long. Her wordplay is often complex and only reveals its beauty upon a second or third reading, but it’s well worth it.
If you enjoyed reading her poems on the Poetry Tree last month, you will love this latest volume from one of America’s best poets. Reading the periodicals in which these poems first appeared makes it evident that her work is widely sought. In addition, I loved the cover design, an open ledger book with the title on one side with traditional rows and columns and Hirshfield’s name on the other side, with its straight lines now curving and swirling, recalling isobars on a weather chart or a map indicating elevations. It’s a beautiful work of art, appropriate for the volume it covers.
Here’s a brief example of the work: ‘An Archeology”: Sixty feet below the streets of Rome,/the streets of Rome./Like that, I heard your voice, my life,/Like that I listened./ I listened/as to neighbors who live/behind the back wall of a building./ You know the voices of them,/the arguments and re-knittings,/the scents of their cooking and absence./You know their plosives, gutturals, fricatives, stops./Say to any who walk here,/”How are you?”/Ask where some bar or cafe might be found./You could talk together, and drink,/and find your own neighbor./ But ask your life anything, ask it,/’How did this happen? What have we come to?”/It turns its face, it hums as a fish-hiding sea does.”
This is an excellent example of how you need to read Hirshfield’s poems several times, each iteration revealing another layer of symbolism and meaning. She may not be the easiest poet to read, but she’s among the best to get to know.
