Names
Report an issue
Tell us what's wrong and we'll take a look.
Thanks – we got it. We'll review and follow up if needed.
In Names, Marilyn Hacker juxtaposes glimpses of contemporary lives with dialogues undertaken in signal poetic voices. Using her signature wit, passion, and mastery of received and invented forms, she convinces us to believe in a world made possible by language--prescient, playful, polyglot, and often breathtaking.
from "Ghazal: The Beloved"
Lines that grapple doubt, written because of the beloved:
when grief subsides, what survives the loss of the beloved?
Your every declaration is suspect.
That was, at least, the departing gloss of the beloved.
Were you merely a servant of the state
or (now you give the coin a toss) of the beloved?
How pure you were, resistant in an orchard.
Peace with justice: the cause of the beloved.
Marilyn Hacker
Marilyn Hacker is the author of two collaborative books, twenty-two translations of French and Francophone poets, and nineteen volumes of poems, including, most recently, Calligraphies. Her honors include the National Book Award, the Lambda Literary Award, the PEN Award for Poetry in Translation, the Robert Fagles Translation Prize, and the PEN/Voelcker Award for Poetry. She lives in Manhattan and Paris.
More by Marilyn Hacker
Why Readwise Books?
Readwise Books is an ebook & audiobook platform that automatically logs how much you and your friends read, making it fun and easy to read more. Learn more →