Heroes in Disguise: Poems - Hardcover

A keen awareness of our place in the cyclic nature of life is the theme that dominates this remarkably clear-sighted and gracefully written collection. As in one poem inspired by a quiet Vuillard interior, Pastan tries to "capture light/ by painting its slow diminishment." But instead of allowing thoughts of aging and mortality to constrict her enjoyment of life, the poet seeks to draw meaning and art from daily sadnesses and epiphanies. Childhood memories, a mother's death, careful observances of the natural world, and the mysteries of the creative process all become occasions for poetry. Pastan, who has the courage to imagine that "someday,/ planted deep underground,/ I too will send up green shoots/ to cover the hunched shoulders/ of gravestones/ with a shawl of leaves," can also find delight in the "honky-tonk song" of a "brazen . . . red hibiscus" or in books, like "freshly baked loaves/ waiting on their shelves/ to be broken open." An impending sense of loss is counterbalanced by a faith in the imagination's power to regenerate itself. This is highly recommended.
- Christine Sten strom, New York Law Sch. Lib.
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