Insomnia: Poems

by Linda Pastan

Overview

Incandescent poems about living and aging—about being awake in this young century—by one of our most moving and eloquent poets.

These poems chart the journeys of sleepless nights when whole lifetimes seem to pass with their stories: loves lost and gained; children and seasons in their phases; and the world beyond, both threatening and enriching life. The time before sleep acts as an invitation to reflect on the world's quieter movements—from gardens heavy after a first storm to the moon slipping into darkness in an eclipse—as well as on the subtle but relentless passage of time. Insomnia embodies Linda Pastan's graceful and iconic voice, both lucid and haunting.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393353754
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/28/2017
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Linda Pastan (1932–2023) was the author of fifteen volumes of poems. A two-time National Book Award finalist and former poet laureate of Maryland, her many honors include the Maurice English Award and the 2003 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. Her poems have been translated into eight languages.

Table of Contents

1 Counting Sheep

Insomnia: 3 AM 17

Cosmology 18

Consider the Space between Stars 19

First Snow 20

The Gardener 21

Counting Sheep 22

Eclipse 24

Meteor Shower 25

Derecho 26

Root Ball 27

The Blackbirds 28

Dido and Aeneas 29

Cassandra 30

Before the Rains 32

In the Orchard 33

A Brief History of Hurricane Lee 34

Elegy 35

Late In October 36

After The Snow 37

2 Ship's Clock

Ship's Clock 41

The Poets 42

Gods' Man 43

And Evening 44

Remembering Stafford on his Centennial 45

Elizabethan 46

On Installing Anne Bradstreet in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Poets' Corner 48

At the End of the 19Th Century 49

Flora 50

On the Road to Pompeii 51

Chaos Theory 52

Edward Hopper, Untitled 54

Adam and Eve, by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1526 55

The Conservation of Matter 56

The Bridge 57

Repetitions 58

Exercise 60

3 Musings Before Sleep

Fireflies 63

In the Happo-En Garden, Tokyo 64

Imaginary Conversation 65

Love Poem Again 66

Sex Education 67

Commencement Address 68

Necklace 69

MRI 70

Course of Treatment 71

At The Edge 72

River Pig 73

Fingerprints 74

Old Joke 75

Ghosts 76

The Grandfathers 78

Choosing Sides 79

At Maho Bay 80

The Hired Mourner 81

AH, Friend 82

Last Rites 83

Musings Before Sleep 84

Editorial Reviews

[Pastan] has the talent to blend seriousness and playfulness in a variety of forms and rhythms...Perhaps her finest accomplishment...she has given her readers a healthy series of reflective and life-changing poems--poems to enrich us.-- "Missourian"

Linda Pastan's work appears to be a happiness shared with nature and personal relationships. All that, yes, yet it's about what we're in danger of losing. This is the kinetic quality of Pastan's poetry, calmed by lyricism...I read this book as a meditation with its constant pulse, reminding us that the poet who never races with the clock has all the time she needs.-- "Washington Independent Review of Books"

Not a dark book but one rich with supple humor and affirmation... by one of the most accomplished poets writing today.-- "Library Journal"

Restless and serene, spirited and subdued...[Pastan's] poems look at the drama and depth of ordinary life.-- "Paris Review"

From the Publisher

"Restless and serene, spirited and subdued...[Pastan’s] poems look at the drama and depth of ordinary life."

Paris Review

"Linda Pastan’s work appears to be a happiness shared with nature and personal relationships. All that, yes, yet it’s about what we’re in danger of losing. This is the kinetic quality of Pastan’s poetry, calmed by lyricism…I read this book as a meditation with its constant pulse, reminding us that the poet who never races with the clock has all the time she needs."

Washington Independent Review of Books

"[Pastan] has the talent to blend seriousness and playfulness in a variety of forms and rhythms…Perhaps her finest accomplishment…she has given her readers a healthy series of reflective and life-changing poems—poems to enrich us."

Missourian

08/01/2015
In her 14th collection (after Traveling Light), Ruth Lily Poetry Prize winner Pastan, presents eloquent yet easily understood poems about aging, art, love, nature, and writing. Pastan's voice is sure, her language succinct and often beautiful. Here's how the poet describes something as ordinary as a steadfast leaf at the change of seasons: "a yellow leaf refusing to fall,// deserter from the great autumn/ army." There's a philosophical bend to many poems. In "Fireflies," for instance, she compares the insects' staccato lights to "flashes of insight/ that flare// for a moment/ then flicker out." But what makes this book especially powerful is Pastan's revealing a new vulnerability about the end of life, a view chiseled by illness and closeness to what lies on the other side. In one poem, the poet even speaks directly to death: "Pierce/ my heart// with the sharp ring/ of the doorbell:/ throw pebbles// at my window…// No more of these/ odd hints: a feather/ of blood here,// a shadow, the size/ of a thumbprint,/ on an X-ray there." In addition, in several excellent ars poetica pieces, Pastan examines her life's work, comparing the craft of poetry to farming, describing it as "coaxing each nebulous seed// to grow. Year after year// of drought or rainstorm." VERDICT Not a dark book, but one rich with supple humor and affirmation, this is an essential purchase by one the most accomplished poets writing today. [See Prepub Alert, 6/14/15.]—Doris Lynch, Monroe Cty. P.L., Bloomington, IN

Library Journal