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as_a_tre3's review
5.0
I took notes while reading this poem collection in regards to the creative ways of writing a poem:
1. Default form for poetry is no longer necessary
2. Never thought that you could write a poem to respond to another
3. Mail exchanges and twitter threads are also valid forms of poems—if validity is a thing
4. Create a poem or two, mix them but in random order of lines
5. Yes, poems could be in the form of narrative sentences as well!
1. Default form for poetry is no longer necessary
2. Never thought that you could write a poem to respond to another
3. Mail exchanges and twitter threads are also valid forms of poems—if validity is a thing
4. Create a poem or two, mix them but in random order of lines
5. Yes, poems could be in the form of narrative sentences as well!
borrowedandbacklist's review against another edition
funny
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
slow-paced
5.0
bowierowie's review
4.0
I find it interesting that several people have remarked on how much they enjoyed reading The Narrow Road to the Interior, mentioning in particular how easily it read and flowed from entry to entry. Although I had a somewhat similar experience in reading The Narrow Road to the Interior as I enjoyed Hahn’s playing with language, form, and image immensely, I often had difficulty reading it and found myself getting frustrated with the zuihitsu style about halfway through. Perhaps it is because I was reading the pieces in the first half of the book back to back, but even so, I still found many of the pieces quite exhausting and challenging as much as they were beautiful and thoughtfully rendered. As much as I tried to surrender myself to the language and let go of my intellect and the automatic critic inside of my head I couldn’t. I kept underlining sentences and putting check marks next to paragraphs I found particularly important, wondering how everything connected, attempting to find a critical framework from which to discuss this book. Yet, Hahn continued to subvert my expectations.
For example, I was surprised when about halfway through the book Hahn began to give us pieces in which she talked about the zuihitsu form explicitly and her relationship with it. There is something about the self-reflexivity at this point in the book that helped me open up to her and engage in the zuihitsu more freely than I could before even though I was moved by her other pieces, particularly those concerning her daughters in relation to herself. Perhaps it is because I gained a further understanding of what zuihitsu means to her when she says in “Pulse and Impulse”:
With or without fluency, I can still love the zuihitsu as a kind of air current: and what arises is very subjective, intuitive and spontaneous – qualities I trust. Also a clear voice.
That it was cultivated by a woman and feels significant – as a writing space for women. It is by its own nature a fragmented anything. I love long erratic pieces into which I can thrash around – make a mess. Lose the intellect…
To invite the intellect back in for re-vision. (49)
As soon as I read this section, something in me let go and trusted Hahn to take me where she needed me to go, perhaps to where she already had been earlier in the book, but needed to continue working out. The ability to work through thought-processes, reoccurring fears, haunting images, and feelings and thoughts concerning literature is something I love about the zuihitsu, yet is probably what also makes it difficult for me to read. I find it so incredibly complicated, thought-provoking, inspiring, yet also exhausting. The intimacy I feel with Hahn’s first person voice and even the third person she occasionally uses works as though it were a mirror, constantly making me think of how I relate to what she’s doing on the page. The associations she makes and the jumping around in time are almost too close for comfort as this style is so reminiscent of the anxious thought-patterns I have often observed in myself. However, Hahn somehow makes these jumps precise and logical. Even if they do not appear so on the surface, there is something logical about her poetic intuition.
For example, I was surprised when about halfway through the book Hahn began to give us pieces in which she talked about the zuihitsu form explicitly and her relationship with it. There is something about the self-reflexivity at this point in the book that helped me open up to her and engage in the zuihitsu more freely than I could before even though I was moved by her other pieces, particularly those concerning her daughters in relation to herself. Perhaps it is because I gained a further understanding of what zuihitsu means to her when she says in “Pulse and Impulse”:
With or without fluency, I can still love the zuihitsu as a kind of air current: and what arises is very subjective, intuitive and spontaneous – qualities I trust. Also a clear voice.
That it was cultivated by a woman and feels significant – as a writing space for women. It is by its own nature a fragmented anything. I love long erratic pieces into which I can thrash around – make a mess. Lose the intellect…
To invite the intellect back in for re-vision. (49)
As soon as I read this section, something in me let go and trusted Hahn to take me where she needed me to go, perhaps to where she already had been earlier in the book, but needed to continue working out. The ability to work through thought-processes, reoccurring fears, haunting images, and feelings and thoughts concerning literature is something I love about the zuihitsu, yet is probably what also makes it difficult for me to read. I find it so incredibly complicated, thought-provoking, inspiring, yet also exhausting. The intimacy I feel with Hahn’s first person voice and even the third person she occasionally uses works as though it were a mirror, constantly making me think of how I relate to what she’s doing on the page. The associations she makes and the jumping around in time are almost too close for comfort as this style is so reminiscent of the anxious thought-patterns I have often observed in myself. However, Hahn somehow makes these jumps precise and logical. Even if they do not appear so on the surface, there is something logical about her poetic intuition.
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