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| What the Living Do: Poems | 
 enlarge | Author: Marie Howe
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Category: Book
List Price: $13.95
Buy New: $6.95
You Save: $7.00 (50%)
New (33) Used (13) Collectible (1) from $5.50
Avg. Customer Rating:  23 reviews
Sales Rank: 129564
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 91
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.4
ISBN: 0393318869
Dewey Decimal Number: 811.54
EAN: 9780393318869
ASIN: 0393318869
Publication Date: April 1, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New, clean, bright, and unmark copy. Shipping every business day.
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Product Description
Informed by the death of her beloved brother, here are the stories of childhood and its thicket of sex and sorrow and joy.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 18 more reviews...
 Came out of nowhere, and became one of my absolute favorites! September 19, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The value of life haunted by those who have lost it: simple, grounded, and devastatingly beautiful. This book is one of the very few things I believe in. I cannot praise the fierce humanity of Howe highly enough...
 Wonderful collection of Poetry February 20, 2007
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I recommend this work to anyone who has a passion for poetry and is not easily offended by strong and passionate work. Even though this purchase was for school, I will continue to read this far after the class has been finished. I downrated from a 5 to a 4 because of the sexual overtone and tone of many of the poems and only because of the limit of interest and audience.
What the Living Do August 2, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Marie Howe is a wonderfully talented, artistic writer. This book will touch the heart of any reader. It is honest, sincere, cuts right to the soul. I recommend the book to anyone, but to young women in particular. Marie Howe's poetry is like a mirror where we can look into ourselves and know that we are not alone, that we can be true to ourselves, we can accept, forgive, love and move forward feeling cleansed. In her artistic poetic journaling, we can find a clearer vision of ourselves and the meaning of life. I intend to share this book with my dearest friends, it makes a lovely gift.
"I am living, I remember you." September 27, 2005
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
This collection of poetry, reads like a novel in which Howe utilizes first person, present tense domestic narratives. What impressed me was the immediacy of these poems. The organic form of one long line followed by a shorter line creates a dramatic effect of a leading breath. These highly accessible poems have an epistemological and cognitive bent: Howe doesn't muddle her readers with loose tangents and inconsequential associations. She portrays amazingly vivid moments without overstating. In a succinct manner, the poet describes volumes in concrete language. The eloquency of her poetry is its simplicity.
The poems in the first section examine what we do as children to unveil our new world. We learn from our older siblings (The Boy); we learn to ask, seek, and sometimes demand help (Sixth Grade); we experience and experiment (Practicing); we liken our world to the fantastical (The Mother and In The Movies); we come to understand the value of being a confidant (Beth); we distinguish the difference between the public and the private (The Fruit Cellar); and we learn how to control our environment (The Game). These are seemingly personal anecdotes for the poet but which have universal meaning. Literal and figurative parallelism is applied in The Attic where the brother is, "building the imaginary building/on the drawing board...." And later, when his sister needs him emotionally, "he's building a world..." a safe haven for her. These moments are bittersweet, savory, palpable.
The second section confronts death and dying. When the speaker thinks her brother has died, the poet uses repetition to create tension and frustration: "and we couldn't wake him,/we couldn't wake him...." In The Last Time, Howe concisely creates an image of wealth and purity with a discussion about mortality (when the sick brother asks the sister to face her own death). My favorite poem in this section is The Grave - where Howe's a sensory master. The grave is symbolic of what we take, what we leave, and what we do in the middle. Trekking in stiletto heels from the grave after the family has proceeded ahead of her, the speaker notes, "ovals and dots, fat exclamation marks,/walking inside the steps of my brothers and sisters."
This third section regards the speaker as an adult dealing with loss and love. Contemplative with self-awareness to the highest degree, Howe's poetry is breathless and soft, with minimal exposition. An example f this is in the poem Late Morning: "and we sat like that for a few minutes, without saying much of anything,/my cheek pressed lightly/against his cheek...." Howe reminds us that so much depends on a moment. At times her poems lead us to certain revelations: in Watching Television, Howe writes, "Anything I've ever tried to keep by force I've lost.." In Reunion, she uses a fresh analogy for two people struggling to remain afloat in love, "the dripping of the oars/and the knock and creak of them moving in the rusty locks."
Howe works under a high level of consciousness that she gifts to her readers. She refuses to spoon-feed us; she leads us to water but doesn't force the imbibe. Howe evokes a whole gamut of feelings with her precise diction and her purity of voice. In the last section, her title poem is an honest look at minutiae and being so engrossed with it until you finally force yourself to take a moment, take a breath, and remember.... And that's just what this book begs.
By far, a powerfully present and celebratory collection of poems. With resoluteness and clarity, Howe has produced a book of poems that's illuminating and proud. This, from the title poem: "...What you finally gave up. We want the spring to come and the winter to pass. We want/ whoever to call or not call, a letter, a kiss - we want more and more and then more of it./ But there are moments, walking, when I catch a glimpse of myself in the window glass,/ say, the window of the corner video store, and I'm gripped by a cherishing so deep/ for my own blowing hair, chapped face, and unbuttoned coat that I'm speechless:/ I am living, I remember you."
Left me speechless! July 22, 2005
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I was actually alerted to this book after a composer who had actually set one of the poems as a song. I knew I had to read it right away after he told us about it. So when I returned home, I bought it. I couldn't put it down. I've since read it several times and everytime it makes me see the little things we take for granted in our lives. The connection she makes with the reader is absolutely amazing. Buddy is one the best poems I've ever read.
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