Jane Hirshfield was born in 1953 in New York and lives in northern California. Her first book of poetry published in the UK was Each Happiness Ringed by Lions: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2005), which draws on her collections Alaya (1982), Of Gravity & Angels (1988), The October Palace (1994), The Lives of the Heart (1997) and Given Sugar, Given Salt (2001). This was followed by four later collections from Bloodaxe in the UK, After (2006), a Poetry Book Society Choice, which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, Come, Thief (2012), The Beauty (2015) and Ledger (2020). In 2008 Bloodaxe published Jane Hirshfield's lectures Hiddenness, Surprise, Uncertainty: Three Generative Energies of Poetry (Newcastle/ Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures). Jane Hirshfield edited the bestselling anthology Women in Praise of the Sacred (1994), and co-translated The Ink Dark Moon: Poems by Ono No Komachi and Izumi Shikibu (1988) – another bestseller in the States – and, with Robert Bly, Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems (2004). Her own poetry was translated into Polish by Czeslaw Milosz, who also wrote the introduction to her Polish Selected Poems. She has won numerous literary awards.

A profound empathy for the suffering of all living beings… It is precisely this that I praise in the poetry of Jane Hirshfield…In its highly sensuous detail, her poetry illuminates the Buddhist virtue of mindfulness.

• 11 Let Them Not Say * 15 The Bowl16 I wanted to be surprised.18 Vest20 An Archaeology21 Fecit22 Day Beginning with Seeing the International Space Station and a Full Moon over the Gulf of Mexico and All Its Invisible Fishes23 As If Hearing Heavy Furniture Moved on the Floor Above Us24 Description25 Ants’ Nest26 A Bucket Forgets Its Water27 Questionnaire29 You Go to Sleep in One Room and Wake in Another30 Chance darkened me.31 Some Questions33 Today, Another Universe34 The Orphan Beauty of Fold Not Made Blindfold * 37 Now a Darkness Is Coming38 Words39 Homs40 She Breathes in the Scent41 A Folding Screen42 Practice43 Cataclysm44 Paint45 Heels46 Cold, Clear47 Capital: An Assay49 Falcon50 Spell to Be Said Against Hatred * 53 Advice to Myself54 Notebook55 In Ulvik56 O Snail57 Branch58 Without Night-shoes59 The Bird Net60 Corals, Coho, Coelenterates61 To My Fifties62 Brocade63 Interruption: An Assay65 My Doubt67 My Contentment68 My Hunger69 My Longing70 My Dignity72 My Glasses73 My Wonder74 My Silence * 77 A Ream of Paper78 Lure79 A Moment Knows Itself Penultimate81 Bluefish82 Almond, Rabbit83 The Paw-paw84 Musa Paradisiaca85 It Was as if a Ladder87 Like Others88 Husband89 Wild Turkeys90 Nine Pebbles90 Without blinking90 Like that other-hand music90 Retrospective91 Library book with many precisely turned-down corners91 Now even more91 Haiku: monadnock92 A strategy92 Sixth extinction92 Obstacle93 They Have Decided94 Things Seem Strong95 Dog Tag96 Biophilia * 99 Amor Fati100 Snow101 Kitchen102 Harness103 Rust Flakes on Wind104 Pelt105 Wood. Salt. Tin.106 I Said * 109 Ledger110 In a Former Coal Mine in Silesia111 Engraving: World-tree with an Empty Beehive on One Branch112 (No Wind, No Rain)113 On the Fifth Day115 Page117 My Confession118 Ghazal for the End of Time119 Mountainal120 My Debt 125 Acknowledgements

Jane Hirshfield was born in 1953 in New York and lives in northern California. Her first book of poetry published in the UK was Each Happiness Ringed by Lions: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2005), which draws on her collections Alaya (1982), Of Gravity & Angels (1988), The October Palace (1994), The Lives of the Heart (1997) and Given Sugar, Given Salt (2001). This was followed by four later collections from Bloodaxe in the UK, After (2006), a Poetry Book Society Choice, which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, Come, Thief (2012), The Beauty (2015) and Ledger (2020). In 2008 Bloodaxe published Jane Hirshfield's lectures Hiddenness, Surprise, Uncertainty: Three Generative Energies of Poetry (Newcastle/ Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures). Jane Hirshfield edited the bestselling anthology Women in Praise of the Sacred (1994), and co-translated The Ink Dark Moon: Poems by Ono No Komachi and Izumi Shikibu (1988) – another bestseller in the States – and, with Robert Bly, Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems (2004). Her own poetry was translated into Polish by Czeslaw Milosz, who also wrote the introduction to her Polish Selected Poems. She has won numerous literary awards.

A profound empathy for the suffering of all living beings… It is precisely this that I praise in the poetry of Jane Hirshfield…In its highly sensuous detail, her poetry illuminates the Buddhist virtue of mindfulness.

• 11 Let Them Not Say * 15 The Bowl16 I wanted to be surprised.18 Vest20 An Archaeology21 Fecit22 Day Beginning with Seeing the International Space Station and a Full Moon over the Gulf of Mexico and All Its Invisible Fishes23 As If Hearing Heavy Furniture Moved on the Floor Above Us24 Description25 Ants’ Nest26 A Bucket Forgets Its Water27 Questionnaire29 You Go to Sleep in One Room and Wake in Another30 Chance darkened me.31 Some Questions33 Today, Another Universe34 The Orphan Beauty of Fold Not Made Blindfold * 37 Now a Darkness Is Coming38 Words39 Homs40 She Breathes in the Scent41 A Folding Screen42 Practice43 Cataclysm44 Paint45 Heels46 Cold, Clear47 Capital: An Assay49 Falcon50 Spell to Be Said Against Hatred * 53 Advice to Myself54 Notebook55 In Ulvik56 O Snail57 Branch58 Without Night-shoes59 The Bird Net60 Corals, Coho, Coelenterates61 To My Fifties62 Brocade63 Interruption: An Assay65 My Doubt67 My Contentment68 My Hunger69 My Longing70 My Dignity72 My Glasses73 My Wonder74 My Silence * 77 A Ream of Paper78 Lure79 A Moment Knows Itself Penultimate81 Bluefish82 Almond, Rabbit83 The Paw-paw84 Musa Paradisiaca85 It Was as if a Ladder87 Like Others88 Husband89 Wild Turkeys90 Nine Pebbles90 Without blinking90 Like that other-hand music90 Retrospective91 Library book with many precisely turned-down corners91 Now even more91 Haiku: monadnock92 A strategy92 Sixth extinction92 Obstacle93 They Have Decided94 Things Seem Strong95 Dog Tag96 Biophilia * 99 Amor Fati100 Snow101 Kitchen102 Harness103 Rust Flakes on Wind104 Pelt105 Wood. Salt. Tin.106 I Said * 109 Ledger110 In a Former Coal Mine in Silesia111 Engraving: World-tree with an Empty Beehive on One Branch112 (No Wind, No Rain)113 On the Fifth Day115 Page117 My Confession118 Ghazal for the End of Time119 Mountainal120 My Debt 125 Acknowledgements

Jane Hirshfield was born in 1953 in New York and lives in northern California. Her first book of poetry published in the UK was Each Happiness Ringed by Lions: Selected Poems (Bloodaxe Books, 2005), which draws on her collections Alaya (1982), Of Gravity & Angels (1988), The October Palace (1994), The Lives of the Heart (1997) and Given Sugar, Given Salt (2001). This was followed by four later collections from Bloodaxe in the UK, After (2006), a Poetry Book Society Choice, which was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, Come, Thief (2012), The Beauty (2015) and Ledger (2020). In 2008 Bloodaxe published Jane Hirshfield's lectures Hiddenness, Surprise, Uncertainty: Three Generative Energies of Poetry (Newcastle/ Bloodaxe Poetry Lectures). Jane Hirshfield edited the bestselling anthology Women in Praise of the Sacred (1994), and co-translated The Ink Dark Moon: Poems by Ono No Komachi and Izumi Shikibu (1988) – another bestseller in the States – and, with Robert Bly, Mirabai: Ecstatic Poems (2004). Her own poetry was translated into Polish by Czeslaw Milosz, who also wrote the introduction to her Polish Selected Poems. She has won numerous literary awards.

A profound empathy for the suffering of all living beings… It is precisely this that I praise in the poetry of Jane Hirshfield…In its highly sensuous detail, her poetry illuminates the Buddhist virtue of mindfulness.

• 11 Let Them Not Say * 15 The Bowl16 I wanted to be surprised.18 Vest20 An Archaeology21 Fecit22 Day Beginning with Seeing the International Space Station and a Full Moon over the Gulf of Mexico and All Its Invisible Fishes23 As If Hearing Heavy Furniture Moved on the Floor Above Us24 Description25 Ants’ Nest26 A Bucket Forgets Its Water27 Questionnaire29 You Go to Sleep in One Room and Wake in Another30 Chance darkened me.31 Some Questions33 Today, Another Universe34 The Orphan Beauty of Fold Not Made Blindfold * 37 Now a Darkness Is Coming38 Words39 Homs40 She Breathes in the Scent41 A Folding Screen42 Practice43 Cataclysm44 Paint45 Heels46 Cold, Clear47 Capital: An Assay49 Falcon50 Spell to Be Said Against Hatred * 53 Advice to Myself54 Notebook55 In Ulvik56 O Snail57 Branch58 Without Night-shoes59 The Bird Net60 Corals, Coho, Coelenterates61 To My Fifties62 Brocade63 Interruption: An Assay65 My Doubt67 My Contentment68 My Hunger69 My Longing70 My Dignity72 My Glasses73 My Wonder74 My Silence * 77 A Ream of Paper78 Lure79 A Moment Knows Itself Penultimate81 Bluefish82 Almond, Rabbit83 The Paw-paw84 Musa Paradisiaca85 It Was as if a Ladder87 Like Others88 Husband89 Wild Turkeys90 Nine Pebbles90 Without blinking90 Like that other-hand music90 Retrospective91 Library book with many precisely turned-down corners91 Now even more91 Haiku: monadnock92 A strategy92 Sixth extinction92 Obstacle93 They Have Decided94 Things Seem Strong95 Dog Tag96 Biophilia * 99 Amor Fati100 Snow101 Kitchen102 Harness103 Rust Flakes on Wind104 Pelt105 Wood. Salt. Tin.106 I Said * 109 Ledger110 In a Former Coal Mine in Silesia111 Engraving: World-tree with an Empty Beehive on One Branch112 (No Wind, No Rain)113 On the Fifth Day115 Page117 My Confession118 Ghazal for the End of Time119 Mountainal120 My Debt 125 Acknowledgements