How to Fly (In Ten Thousand Easy Lessons): Poetry

Barbara Kingsolver is well-known to her legions of fans for her gorgeously-written, complex, and rich novels as well as her finely-crafted essays. Her poetry, though, is not as well-known, but it is sure to become so. First, the poems are simply beautiful. It is apparent that every word is carefully chosen to bring to life special moments in her life. “Love is not granite boulder, praised/for its size. It’s the water that parts/around it, moving mountains.” She reminds us of the importance of family in her poems about marriage, death, divorce, traveling with family through a foreign country, and the importance of self with poems of being a child, of being untethered, and of being stuck. The writing is, as one might expect from Kingsolver: stunning, raw, moving, lyrical, and real. “This might be the moment to step one last time/from the bedside to mention that while we spoke kindly,/ mostly, my mother and I did not love one another.” There are no punches pulled, no curtains closed, no secrets hidden. This collection is perfect for quiet reflection on those times, people, happenings, and places in our lives that have meant much to us.