Tesserae: Memories and Suppositions

Published at author's age of 70, this collection of biographical vignettes feels to this reader like the happy work of a person who has lived fully, loved vigorously, and perceived every detail along the way. How fortunate to be able, in one's golden years, to look back with such wonder, sympathy, and good humor.This short but powerful work absolutly enchanted this reader. The chapters are sometimes confessional, sometimes an homage to a person long gone, and always full of wonder and spirit.She writes of interior settings, relationships, prophesies, family (a loving one), and cities (London during the blitz, for example). Her descriptions are never labored or complex, but details resonate in her simple yet expertly chosen words. It is not so much that poet Denise Levertov has lived an extraordinary life (well, she did), but what makes this utterly magical book come alive is her ability to capture in prose her complex feelings about events and people of her childhood and early adulthood. As such, it validates the idea that we are all sensitive and deep. That is, she has a way of newly expressing feelings that we have all had but probably were never able to put into words.Simply, I have never seen an autobiographical work that so powerfully expresses fervent sentiment, love, and emotion. Never shallow, always fresh. A remarkable work.Excellent gift for your own mother.

Tesserae is a collection of short prose works by renound poet/activist Denise Levertov. Usually, I find the recorded childhood/family memories of someone else either to personal to them to be really relevant to me or to sticky-sweet with nostalgia to be palatable in a long-term sense. Tesserae navigates these obstacles with admirable poise. Rather than creating a picture of her family for me to glance at cusorily, Levertov creates a landscape in which I can wander and linger at my leisure. The short narratives are full of mystery, wonder, and a quiet humor that is all Levertov. The pieces about her Father's conversion from Orthodox Judiasm to Christianity and his subsequent expulsion from the family, her mother and the pillows, and the whole family's beach holiday stick especially in my mind. I remember just how the Russian winter wind felt when her father found the scrap of paper with the gospel of John on it by the river, the texture of those pillows when hugged to the chest, and exactly what it is to be a girl entering puberty struggling with your own burgeoning body and intellect on the blinding sand during a family vacation. Individually, the pieces are magical bits of prose that display the experiences of the different family members like tiny finely-crafted curio boxes, as a collection they speak about history and identity. They engage the reader in an emotional dialog about where "self" comes from, and how it goes from there. Though I like her poetry, I think this is Levertov's best work.