how we became human new and selected poems 1975 2001

Of course you can come up with your own interpretation of things, and that’s one of the wonderful things about poetry, but I totally get why someone might be turned off by it. Sure, some poetry is direct and clearly understandable, but the vast majority of it takes quite an effort, and even then you may have no clue what’s going on. Is it somehow more “poetic”? Does it make the poems easier to read? With slashed prices on Amazon, and (slightly) cheaper ebooks, the new standards make it hard to convince oneself that it’s reasonable to spend that much money on a book filled with half-blank pages.Īnother thing I’ve noticed, and it’s something I’m guilty of as an occasional writer of poetry - alienation of the reader. I’ve never really understood why publishers and book production people decide on this sort of thing - poems spread out on multiple pages, huge margins, larger fonts. From a purely economical standpoint, it really bugs me to spend fifteen or twenty dollars on a two-hundred page book that could have easily been condensed into one-hundred pages and be half the price. One thing that I’ve noticed after reading many, many a poetry book, is the waste of space. However, after reading through (and I chose the word “through” because it is meant to be digested bit by bit, not gulped down and forgotten) this book, I understand why people have moved away from the art form, in terms of both reading and purchasing.

The world, on the whole, seems to have fallen out of love with poetry, and I think that’s a shame.

There are many classics out there - Whitman, Ginsberg, Emily Dickinson, but not so many known recent poets. Poetry is a tricky thing - not so much the act of creating it, actually putting the words down on paper, but sending one’s poetry off into the world. I had never read any of Joy Harjo’s poetry before How We Became Human, so although I was curious and intrigued, I was also hesitant, but ended up finally buying it after much internal debate. And before that, it sat in my Amazon cart for just as long.

This book of new and selected poems from 1975-2001 has been sitting on my bookshelf for about six months, waiting to be read.

How we became human new and selected poems 1975 2001