Easy: Poems
Starred Review. Effortless and stunning in its grace and movement, Ponsot's newest collection follows the prompting of its title, which can be read as personal affirmation or a direction: simmer down she imperatively writes, lay your cards on the linen faceup // causing a music to start. Many of the poems create connections across distance, whether it's the air in a kitchen evoking Alhambra years ago, the cloud barrier separating earth and space, or something even more ephemeral: Between silence and sound // we are balancing darkness. Playful humor springs up, as well as departures to childhood or rewritten fables. Yet even at these moments the poems are like stones, holding each other into a wall. Old age is an ever-present lens for Ponsot (Springing), who is in her late 80s. Walking Home from the Museum, for instance, recalls radiant saviors... // at ease in their deathlife. Ponsot is a master poet, still at the height of her powers: The place of language is the place between me// and the world of presences I have lost(Oct.)Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.