Reviews for Texas Poets in Concert: A Quartet

The average rating for Texas Poets in Concert: A Quartet based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-06 00:00:00 Eduardo Gutierrez If I had to define the spirit of Berry's poetry, I would appeal to the link that man is capable of stablishing between his secluded self and the earth that sustains him. The harmony of man's life, and finally of his future survival and eventual death, depends on the profundity of that connection and the respect with which he treats the gift of life in all its forms, and the natural cycle that leads all living things to an ineludible end. Berry doesn't moralize or engage on superficial eulogy about the benefits of small communities versus unrestrained growth or the escalating overuse of technology; instead, he elevates the transient existence of man to the level of immortal poetry, which recalls a unique blend between Thoreau's philosophical explorations and Wordsworth's lyrical vision of the natural world. This is the kind of book that lights up a spark of hope when grief, impotence or uncertainty cloud one's vision. Berry's poetry exudes with the comforting wisdom that nothing important is ever lost, for the essence of those you love remain imbedded in the everlasting rhythms of nature; in the impossible shapes of rivers and mountains, in the indescribable colors of stormy horizons, in the inexplicable symphony of birdsong, all of which exist around us only when we pay attention, only when we are ready to perceive a greater whole in the erratic ebb and flow of our limited emotions. Hear this idea sung by Berry's poetic voice: "All that passes descends, and ascends again unseen into the light: the river coming down from the sky to hills, from hills to sea, and carving as it moves, to rise invisible, gathered to light, to return again." (…) Gravity is grace. All that has come to us has come as the river comes, given in passing away." The Gift of Gravity "Whatever is singing is found, awaiting the return of whatever is lost." The Law That Marries All Things To understand the rhythms, movements and metaphoric vision of Berry's dance with words is to accept our place in the world, not with resignation but with grateful humility. May readers dance to the melody of a liberated mind that has seen the light and captured its full glow, sealed it in verses and kept it intact for us to confront the impending darkness that awaits us at the end of our life journeys. May Berry's poetry remind you of who you were, of who you are, especially when you have lost your way in moments of anguish, in moments of loss. "Remembering who we are, we live in eternity."

Review # 2 was written on 2011-11-23 00:00:00 Mark Thomas Barnes There are some poets from whom one poem is really all I needed, no matter how much of their other work I may read. I could read my favorite Wendell Berry poem fifty or a hundred times in a row, and cry every single time. And that tells you just about everything you need to know about me. So I share it with you here. The Peace of Wild Things When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.