The world began with yes New poems

Poet/novelist/essayist Jong's latest poetry collection is the 26th volume she's brought forth in a long and prolific career, an achievement that well may be a marvel even to her. As she writes in "The Danish Poet": "How fascinating/ you are still/ writing poetry/ though you are no longer young/ says the Danish poet /not young herself/ & still writing." Indeed, most of the poems in this volume have this same point-and-shoot quality: nothing fancy or transcendent-aiming. There's only frank reportage on these pages and a firm embrace of life. "The World" is a case in point, a poem stripped down to an essential idea by a practiced hand: "The world rushes by/ people we loved die/ & the world does not stop/ astoundingly. We pause/ but the world/ does not stop." VERDICT Fans of this well-known author will be interested to see how well Jong gives voice to the inevitable thoughts that come with aging.-Iris S. Rosenberg, New York © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

  UNICORNS   Girls love them even before they yearn for that twisted ivory horn.   Wistful for what they never knew, they braid the rainbow hair of tiny Unicorns.   Yet the Bible makes them symbols of strength.   Were they Aurochs or Elasmotheria, now extinct?   Why did God remind Job of his own creation of beasts when Job was at his nadir?   Did HA-SHEM mean that animals are stronger than those who worship them? You Bet!   & Maidens who gaze upon Unicorns as Unicorns gaze upon them are the fiercest girls in the red tent.   Come, then, with me to my own museum in Paris, the Cluny: Musee du Moyen Age,   & see the Unicorn gazing at his comely Horn in my Maiden's Mirror,   while she dreams erotic dreams-- all tapestry-- celebrating the five senses:   Touch, taste, smell, hearing, sight.   Our Maiden feeds both Lion & Unicorn, forms of desire.   No wonder the tapestry exults   À Mon Seul Désir!   What more could Maidens want than the everlasting hardness of the Unicorn, tail upstanding, supplicant to her   virginity, hooves in her honied lap, eating sweetly from her cupped hand?   Oh Unicorn, come to me from your red forest of love & drink my poetry-- The true trace of my Virginity . . .   Of course there are more than five senses!   Knowledge of Future, Past, Poetry, Song, Colors, Stars & Planets.   Stay, fragile Earth for Bette, my granddaughter, that she may know, the Unicorn of Love & Longing, the Unicorn   of Work & Worship, The Unicorn of Springing Hooved Imagination!   The Unicorn that licks her little hand!   That nuzzles her pink neck, that kisses her brown/blue eyes, that lies down with languor & longing.   Unicorns are hardly symbols, but lovers of our Little Ones!   Gentle, gentle Unicorn, come to my study in the green, teach my darling girl to grow with Fantasy & Passion, Plenty & Poetrys . . . That's all she needs. Excerpted from The World Began with Yes by Erica Jong All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.