Amazon.com Review
Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky writes that Jane Hirshfield "approaches the poem in a way that feels exactly right to me: plainly, reverently, intelligently." This is true both in her essays about poetry (see Nine Gates) and in her poems. Her recurrent themes of art, nature, and mystery startle the reader in many of these poems. Take, for example, the intriguingly titled "Lying," which is short enough to quote in its entirety: "He puts his brush to the canvas, / with one quick stroke / unfolds a bird from the sky. / Steps back, considers. / Takes pity. / Unfolds another."

Hope & Love
All winter the blue heron slept among the horses
I do not know the custom of herons, do not know
if the solitary habit is their way, or if he
listened for some missing one
not knowing even that was what he did
in the blowing sounds of the dark.
I know that hope is the hardest Love we carry.
He slept with his long neck folded, lke a letter put away.