Gone So Far is a collection of poems that "focuses on my relationship with my aging mother, in whose fragmented utterances I've found both eloquence and wisdom." Here is a sample (two complete poems and the finl section of a third) that illustrates some of the ways Martha Collins has found to do justice, artistically, to her mother's life, thoughts, and words (and thus, of course, to so many lives).
Martha Collins is the author of five collections of poetry, most recently Blue Front (Graywolf, 2006), which won an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for 2006 and was chosen one of "25 Books to Remember from 2006" by the New York Public Library. She is also co-translator of two collections of poems from the Vietnamese: The Women Carry River Water by Nguyen Quang Thieu (UMass, 1997) and Green Rice by Lam Thi My Da, (Curbstone, 2005). She has been awarded fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Bunting Institute, and the Lannan foundation, as well as three Pushcart Prizes.
Their Work
These are the ones who don't
lie down. Not yet. Not yet lying
down is what they do, and it
is not easy, it is their work,
it is what they have to do, all
day, day after day. Sometimes
of course they eat and there
is subsequent work of waste.
And at night, like everyone else,
they lie down and sleep appears,
no different from ours. That is not
work, though their dreams, like ours,
may make the work of the day
more difficult, may even become
the work of the day, the work
they sometimes wish they had to do.
For there is no work more difficult
than theirs, sitting and waiting.
from Time Was
. . .
time on her hands, like gloves
in her hands, a broken bowl
sister's daughters her sisters
daughter's father her father
what was deep is risen
daughter her mother the
friend she loved herself
is risen up and become ground
Through
clouds broke and through
dreamed her hands on
through the clouds mountain
on my body dreamed
mountain snow nothing
dreamed her into
nothing but snow
into my body coming
snow mound body
coming into my body
body of snow to press
body as once I broke through
press my body down
through her body into light
ISBN: 0-935306-49-8
paper, 24 pages
$5.00 includes shipping
ORDERS:
or
Individuals, pre-paid only, via Printfriendly Order Form.
Libraries, book stores, and organizations will be able to order by e-mail or USPS (send pertinent info for invoice) or jobber.