About book The Apple Trees At Olema: New And Selected Poems (2010)
Hass's newest publication has as its anchor “Meditation at Lagunitas,” the poem whose opening lines became, almost overnight, a cultural mantra: “All the new thinking is about thinking / Hence it resembles all the old thinking.” In addition to offering us a carefully winnowed harvest to his own canon—see “My Mother’s Nipples” for an unexpected picking—from the past 30-odd years, Hass has worked tirelessly as a translator; and during his tenure in our nation’s capitol, he inaugurated “The Poet’s Choice” series for the Washington Post Book World. Hass’ aesthetic functions best in triplicate fashion: whether writing about the maternal body, rendering into the American idiom a piece originally in Polish or turning our attention to a contemporary from our own country, Hass aims, sometimes mercilessly, to give the subject at hand such a real, palpable nature that we sense a new living presence, one demanding our acquaintance, on our doorstep. I first became acquainted with Robert Hass in the 1970's, through a little book he wrote called Field Guide. I was charmed by that book back then. So I was excited to find this book (at a Borders Close-Out sale)and was ready to fall in love with him all over again. That didn't happen. This compilation included some poems from Field Guide as well as many subsequent books, including the Pulitzer Prize winning Time and Materials. So I'm glad to have it in my library. But, overall, Hass's poems were stodgier and more restrained than I expected. But we're older now, and I've read a lot of poetry since then. I did admire his skill, the breadth of his subjects, and his obvious dedication to poetry.
Do You like book The Apple Trees At Olema: New And Selected Poems (2010)?
Accessible & nature-inspired. Easy to read, and relatable - totally my style.
—geniusfamelicus
A bit mixed. Some were brilliant, others were like reviews.
—Evon
