Easy

Starred review from September 21, 2009
Effortless and stunning in its grace and movement, Ponsot's newest collection follows the prompting of its title, which can be read as personal affirmation or a direction: “simmer down” she imperatively writes, “lay your cards on the linen faceup // causing a music to start.” Many of the poems create connections across distance, whether it's the air in a kitchen evoking “Alhambra years ago,” the cloud barrier separating earth and space, or something even more ephemeral: “Between silence and sound // we are balancing darkness.” Playful humor springs up, as well as departures to childhood or rewritten fables. Yet even at these moments the poems are like “stones, holding each other into a wall.” Old age is an ever-present lens for Ponsot (Springing
), who is in her late 80s. “Walking Home from the Museum,” for instance, recalls “radiant saviors... // at ease in their deathlife.” Ponsot is a master poet, still at the height of her powers: “The place of language is the place between me// and the world of presences I have lost”