The Selected Poems of Wendell Berry

I love this collection of Wendell Berry's poems. He is such an incredible writer, and his poetry is honest and fascinating. I will often just pick up the book in between classes or activities and read one or two poems to relax. I have also read an enjoyed many of his essays, though I have not yet tried his novels. If they are anything like his poetry, though, I'm sure I'd love it.

Poems written in everyday language, not pretentious academic words. They express what is in the hearts of everyone. Poems that I wish I could write.

Mr. Berry has written honest, real-life poetry for over 40 years. One who is unfamiliar with his work will find in these selections the essence of Berry's writing. His work is contemplative, meditative, spiritually centering, and genuine. His poems range from songs of praise for the Creation to elegies that rightly reflect death and grief. In between one sees what can be good in communities, in families, in friendships, in marriage, and in earthly work. These selections will lead one to search out and read Berry's other beautiful books of poetry!

"I am an amateur poet, working for the love of the work and to my own satisfaction--which are two of the conditions of 'self-employment,' as I understand it" (p. xvii-xviii), Wendell Berry writes in the Preface to his "Sabbath Poems," A TIMBERED CHOIR. "I belong to no school of poetry, but rather to my love of poems by other poets" (p. xviii). Berry is a Kentucky farmer, a poet, a novelist, and one of my favorite writers. By way of preface to this collection, he writes, "In a time that breaks/ in cutting pieces all around,/ when men, voiceless/ against thing-ridden men,/ set themselves on fire, it seems/ too difficult and rare/ to think of the life of a man/ grown whole in the world,/ as peace and in place./ But having thought of it/ I am beyond the time/ I might have sold my hands/ or sold my voice and mind/ to the arguments of power/ that go blind against/ what they would destroy."Themes of earth, marriage, family, work and death weave the 100 poems of this worthwhile collection together. "Put your hands/ into the earth," Berry writes in "Song in a Year of Catastrophe." "Live close/ to the ground. Learn the darkness./ Gather round you all/ the things that you love, name/ their names, prepare/ to lose them. It will be/ as if all you know were turned/ around within your body" (p. 74). In "Marriage," Berry writes to his wife, Tanya: "How hard it is for me, who live/ in the excitement of women/ and have the desire for them/ in my mouth like salt. Yet/ you have taken me and quieted me./ You have been such a light to me/ that other women have been/ your shadows" (p. 31). "And we pray, not/ for a new earth or heaven," he writes in "The Wild Geese," but to be/ quiet in heart, and in eye/ clear. What we need is here" (p. 90). Enough said.G. Merritt

Spanning nearly four decades, Berry's poems are firmly attached to his hillside farm in Northern Kentucky, but with appeal to all regions. Berry writes of fidelity to the land, sustainable farming, community, and marriage. He writes reverently and with faith, but does not broach religion directly. His poems speak for a longer time frame, of waiting to find out more (about the land or a partner). On first reading you might think this is pastoral nostalgia, but is an exciting new view of community and stewardship. The poems are very personal and Berry selects what to reveal. He writes about marriage, despite "the excitement of women and have desire for them in my mouth like salt". He writes of what he learned from his father "A steer should graze and thrive whenever he lowers his head". This is good poetry for those wanting to reflect on land and commitment.