Carnival Evening: New and Selected Poems 1968-1998

It has been awhile since I picked up a good book of poetry -- a book that directly spoke to me with universal themes and that conveyed the beauty that's hidden within the ordinary tempo of life. Linda Pastan's poetry is simultaneously wise, clever, and heartbreaking, all at the same time. She doesn't shy away from uncomfortable themes: loneliness, despair, death. Yet she intersperses these themes with the sheer, exhilarating joy of the simple moments of life. For me -- a daughter with an aging mother -- words such as "Everywhere the steam of life goes on, and I try to go with it, non-swimmer, paddler in a leaky canoe" resonated strongly. As a lover of books, I related to her poem that begins, "Just looking at them I grow greedy, as if they were freshly baked loaves waiting on their shelves to be broken open -- that one and that -- and I made my choice..." As one who has been hurt (as all of us have), I was astounded by, "Tonight I understand for the first time how a woman might choose her own death as easily as if it were a dark plum she picked from a basket of bright peaches." And as someone who married in midlife, I loved the poem Because: "Because I knew that after twenty years you'd bring the plants inside for winter and make a jungle we'd sleep in naked; because I had free will; because everything is ordained; I said yes." Linda Pastan speaks to all of us, particularly all of us women. Her poems deserve to be celebrated.

Linda Pastan's poetry embodies the secrets and longings of an intelligent and artistic woman living the double essence of a wife/mother and a studious and inspired poet. Her images are sharp, violently emotional in a context of harsh realities. Her reinvention of religious and classical myths grounds daily female routines, giving them wings at the same time.

These are insightful and mature poems through which we glimpse moments of a life well-lived. WE dream as the poet dreams. WE grow as the poet grows. Linda Pastan is truly a gifted poet.

Linda Pastan, for several years Maryland's poet laureate, has crowned several decades of her subtle, courageous writing with this compendium of beautiful poems. Pastan never shrinks from the deepest feelings, from her own shadows and demons, instead converts them into beauty and invites her readers to know her deeply. Her sense of meter, line breaks, word music are a model for young poets, and her subject matter, the corners of the heart, an inspiration and comfort to those of us who live with razor sharp sensitivity. She is a beacon still shining through the fog in an age where violence, bravado, and novelty dull the senses and lead us to shrink from ourselves. With her poetry, we return home to the delicate nuances of living, dreaming, loving, andmost of all, telling the truth.

Whether mapping out her life in the voice of Eve or contemplating maternity, aging, and the writing life, Pastan rarely slips out of form. Her careful and lucid attention to detail makes this book a valuable addition to any poetry library. Highly recommended.