Linda Pastan – författare

This remarkable new collection of poems is a sure affirmation of the fact that, as one critic has written, Linda Pastan “has quietly become one of our leading poets.” Another critic noted, of her first volume, that she “in large measure fulfilled Emerson’s dream—the revelation of ‘the miraculous in the common.’”

"It is above all her integrity that has made Linda Pastan such a rewarding poet. Nothing is here for effect. There is no self-pity, but in this new book she has reached down to a deeper layer and is letting the darkness in." —May Sarton

Instructions to the Reader: Come. Suspend willingly or not your disbelief and with empty pockets enter the room of the story. Warm your fingers at this candle which is only the stub of a dream and at any time may flicker or go out. Here fire consumes itself with paper and pencil for kindling; here a unicorn waits in the corner its musical horn ready. When I tell you this story is pure fact you will want to leave the room. Stay awhile.

A Fraction of Darkness is the first book to follow PM/AM: New and Selected Poems, a nominee for the 1982 American Book Award. In this new collection, Linda Pastan continues to fulfill the promise of her five earlier books.

Imperfect Paradise, published in 1988, is Linda Pastan's 4th collection and was a nominee for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Poems deal with birds, the past, children, beauty, rituals, myths, the moon, vacations, aging, death, family life, and hope.

In her eighth collection, Linda Pastan touches upon themes of family, childhood, time and loss, and the beauty of nature. "Let the eye enlarge with all it beholds," she says in the opening poem; she becomes a seer, as the San Francisco Review of Books has said, “returning to the role of the poet as it served the human race for centuries: to fuel our thinking, show us our world in new ways, and to get us to feel more intensely.”

"The world wounds us / with is beauty, as if it knew / we had to leave it soon," Linda Pastan writes in "In a Northern Country," and the poems in this new volume are full of those wounds, that beauty, Whether her subject is the return of childhood ghosts or the metaphor of baseball, whether it is the impact of landscape or the vagaries of family love, Pastan continues to explore and illuminate the mysteries and dangers beneath the common surface of ordinary life. As the Jerusalem Post put it, "She has, in large measure, fulfilled Emerson's dream-the revelation of 'the miraculous in the common." Or, as she herself writes in one of her new poems, "Long after Eden, the imagination flourishes with all its unruly weeds."

In The Last Uncle, Linda Pastan writes, "If death is everywhere we look, / at least let's marry it to beauty." The poems in this new collection deal with loss and the difficult transition between generations, but they are also about love and landscape and the many pleasures of the imagination.

Linda Pastan writes, "the art that mattered / was the life led fully / stanza by swollen stanza." That life is portrayed here, from the poet's earliest childhood memories to the surprises that come with age.

“[Linda Pastan’s] poems are skillfully written with lovely syntax and strong, evocative imagery. Surprising readers with subject and an occasional rhyme, Pastan proves once again that, 12 books later, she is a poet who can ground us, who can astound us. Essential reading for poetry lovers.”—Library Journal

These poems chart the journeys of sleepless nights when whole lifetimes seem to pass with their stories: loves lost and gained; children and seasons in their phases; and the world beyond, both threatening and enriching life. The time before sleep acts as an invitation to reflect on the world's quieter movements—from gardens heavy after a first storm to the moon slipping into darkness in an eclipse—as well as on the subtle but relentless passage of time. Insomnia embodies Linda Pastan's graceful and iconic voice, both lucid and haunting.

In poems of graceful lyricism and penetrating observation, award-winning poet Linda Pastan sheds new light on the complexities of ordinary life and the rising tide of mortality. Drawing from Pastan’s five most recent volumes and including over thirty new poems, Almost an Elegy reflects on beauty, old age, and the probability of loss.With signature precision and quiet power, selections from The Last Uncle (2002) and Queen of a Rainy Country (2006) explore childhood, love, landscape, and the many pleasures of the imagination. Poems from Insomnia (2015) and Traveling Light (2011) chime with similar themes of aging, memory, and language. The new poems offer a profound portrait of a poet contemplating her life and the endurance of art, amidst the fleeting beauty of nature and the everyday losses that accompany old age. In “The Collected Poems,” Pastan writes, “For years I wrestled / with syllables, with silence.” Now, after a long and celebrated career, the poet rests “in a hammock of words, waiting / for the sun to rise again / over the horizon of the page.”Whether in a lush evocation of an impressionist painting or a wry and wistful ode to a car key, Pastan finds lucid meaning in the passage of time.

These poems chart the journeys of sleepless nights when whole lifetimes seem to pass with their stories: loves lost and gained; children and seasons in their phases; and the world beyond, both threatening and enriching life. The time before sleep acts as an invitation to reflect on the world's quieter movements—from gardens heavy after a first storm to the moon slipping into darkness in an eclipse—as well as on the subtle but relentless passage of time. Insomnia embodies Linda Pastan's graceful and iconic voice, both lucid and haunting.

This volume brings together new work along with poems gathered from nine previous collections. When Linda Pastan's first book was published in 1971, the Jerusalem Post wrote, she "in large measure fulfilled Emerson's dream — the revelation of ‘the miraculous in the common.' " Since then Pastan has continued to explore the complexities, passion, and dangers under the surfaces of ordinary life. "Some critics point to Emily Dickinson when citing Pastan's lapidary style and metaphysical wit, a comparison that does justice to either poet when Pastan is at her best." — Gettysburg Review  "Pastan's unfailing mastery of her medium holds the darkness firmly in check." — New York Times Book Review National Book Award finalist  Linda Pastan was Poet Laureate of Maryland from 1991 to 1993.