The golden road
Subtitle: poems
By: Rachel Hadas
Publisher: TriQuarterly Books/ Northwestern University Press
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Evanston, Ill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 80
ISBN-13: 9780810128590
Subjects: Grief; Poetry
Description: A central theme of The Golden Road is the prolonged dementia of the poet's husband. But Rachel Hadas's new collection sets the loneliness of progressive loss in the context of the continuities that sustain her: reading, writing, and memory; familiar places; and the rich texture of a life fully lived. These poems are meticulously observed, nimble in their deployment of a range of forms, and capacious in their range of reference. They take us to a Greek island, to Carl Schurz Park in New York City, to an old house in Vermont, to a performance of Macbeth, and to the neurology floor of a hospital. Hadas finds beauty in all those places. The Golden Road laments, but it also celebrates.
Table of contents: title: I. The pattern; title: Plutarch on the plane; title: On the ferry; title: Nostos; title: First persons; title: Generic; title: Complete Poussiniana; title: Cranes; title: No good deed; title: The long way home; title: The cloak; title: Amphora; title: The dream retriever; title: II. The study; title: Rear window; title: Body of book; title: Help; title: The language of women; title: Woman and girl; title: In memoriam Rachel Wetzsteon, 1967-2009; title: The last glimpse; title: The address book; title: Etymology; title: III. The onset; title: The fortune-teller; title: Between Brattleboro and Bellows Falls; title: Valentine's Day; title: Only so much; title: Boston naming test; title: Neurology floor; title: Spring Sunday in the park; title: The question; title: Carl Schurz park; title: Winding stair, lost sneaker, rising tide; title: The book in the bag; title: Macbeth; title: Double bed; title: New year; title: Moons; title: IV. Driving back with my son; title: Host at last; title: Joe's pond; title: The swing; title: Ballade on Pumpkin Hill; title: The hammock; title: The tall wet grass; title: After the end of summer; title: Storing the season; title: Honey; title: The golden road.