Living Things: Collected Poems

Anne Porter paints at least as well in words as her husband, Fairfield Porter, did in oils. Her sensibility is acute, her word choices splendid, her images vivid and appealing. Just look at this verse from her poem "Consider the Lilies of the Sea:" "The two joined petals of a small Tooth-white clamshell stand ajar, and mimic The opening of wings or of a songbook; Leaves that a minute and obscure Death sprung open in a depth of sea; Held in one's hand, they still present The light obedient gesture that let go of time."

To read Anne Porter's poems is to discover what you know innately. Her vivid reminders are an AH HA!Like "The squirrels run like script along its boughs." (Oaks and Squirrels)Or, in describing Maine islands she says, "These granite and limestone islands,These tops of flooded mountains Are scattered all over the bay."Or, " The live coals of hawkweed, The daisies' fiery white, And finespun birdsongs shiverOver the scraps of forest." (On the Maine Islands)Her love expressed is contagious.

Anne Porter, who died at 99, burst onto the poetry scene with her first book A More Natural Language when in her 80's, and was a finalist for the National Book Award. Behind the scenes, the widow of the great American painter, Fairfield Porter, had been known or years for her work. Living Things collects that first book and her second. These poems are radiant, sublime.

Beautiful book, and I actually enjoyed the foreword written by a friend of the author more than the poems.

Anne Porter has been described as a religious poet, and she is that. But she is also a personal poet, an observer of nature, and a poet of quiet positivity. She sees ordinary things in a way that makes them magical; conversely, in her writing the great mysteries become accessible in ordinary things. There is not one poem in this book that does not speak to the reader.

Great poetry, such substance for someone taking the natural moments of life and nature and turning them into the spiritual priority of human love and life

This collection includes one of my favorite poems of all time (Music). Mrs. Porter's writing is simply beautiful!!! You need to read this - now!

Beautiful and completely honest and transparent poetry. Anne Porter is a masterful wordsmith! Her poems will inspire and uplift you and touch all the chords of human emotion.

SOMEWHAT DISAPPOINTING -- SHE WAS 83 WHEN SHE BEGAN WRITING AND IT SHOWS.

Evocative and concrete poems that feed humanly and invite deeper spiritual imagination.

Ce recueil contient de petites merveilles qui apportent,ligne après ligne,de réelles émotions.Ancrés au quotidien, des mots simples et vrais.