Review: She Walks in Beauty: A Woman's Journey Through Poems

This is by far the best collection of english poets and poems I've read. It shocked me when I knew that Caroline Kennedy is the only daughter of J.F. Kennedy, the former US President who died in assasination.
But then really... this collection is really amazing! A must read. (for those who enjoys poetry and such)

My other review. [in malay]

Bagi saya, kebolehan untuk membaca sebuah puisi tak kira dalam bahasa apa pun adalah sesuatu yang luarbiasa. Saya suka baca puisi tapi saya tak tahu 'membaca' puisi. Bukan semua puisi yang saya baca itu boleh saya kategorikan dalam bahan bacaan, sebabnya pemahaman tentang puisi itu sendiri. Mengakui, saya rakyat jelata yang 'buta sastera' (baik Melayu apatah lagi Inggeris)

Apa yang saya boleh katakan 'She Walks in Beauty' ini adalah antologi puisi Inggeris lama dan baru yang sangat dekat dengan jiwa. Sepanjang menyelak 300+ muka suratnya seperti melalui perjalanan hidup sendiri.

Mulanya saya ingat didalamnya adalah puisi seperti Robert Frost, EE Cummings, Emily Dickinson, Rumi dan nama lain yang terkenal dalam sejarah sastera , tapi rupanya ada juga nama baru [dan yang masih hidup] dalam sejarah.

Nyatanya, buku ini benar-benar terkandung dalamnya puisi terbaik pernah saya baca sepanjang hidup yang singkat ini.

The most liked poems in this book:

- No, Thank You, John/ Christina Rosetti <--the same writer for the cuckoo's calling adage.
- Don't Quit ( as in previous post)
- Don't Try to Rush Thing/ Antonio Machado 

Don’t try to rush things:

for the cup to run over,

it must first be filled.

- The Waking
- Youth/ Osip Mendelstam
- Come to the Orchard in Spring/ RUMI
- Unfortunate Coincidence/ Dorothy Parker
- Madam and Her Madam/ Langston Hughes --> funny ones.
- Defining World/ G.Y. Baxter --> touche
- Fatigue/ Hillaire Belloc
- The Rhodora/ Ralph Waldo Emerson --> Now I know that rhodora is the name of a flower
- Roses Only/ Marriane Moore --> I like the first line,

You do not seem to realize that beauty is a liability rather than
an asset

- Nobody Knows but Mother/ Marry Morrison
- As Much as you can/ Constantine P. Cavavy
- Older, Younger, Both/ Joyce Sutphen
- Remember/ Christina Rosetti
- A poem of friendship/ Nikki Giovanni
- Leisure/ W.H. Davies
- A Minor Bird/ Robert Frost
- All things pass/ Lao-Tzu
- 24th September 1945/ Nazim Nikmet

The best sea: has yet to be crossed.

The best child: has yet to be born.

The best days: have yet to be lived;

and the best word that I wanted to say to you

is the word that I have not yet said.

- The Journey/ Mary Oliver
- To Hayley/ William Blake --> I realize this words even it is short, has deep meaning.

Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache:
Do be my enemy—for friendship’s sake. 

- Survivor/ Roger McGough

Everyday

I think about dying.

About disease, starvation,

violence, terrorism, war,

the end of the world.

It helps

keep my mind off things.

xoxo