It\u2019s a long book, as far as poetry collections go, clocking in at 90 pages. It\u2019s divided into four sections of thematically linked poems. The first section is something of a grab bag, including poems about the seamier side of life in NYC as well as meditations on the violence that underpins the human condition. Though many of these are engaging, they offer only a glimpse of the extremely powerful writing that is to come in the second section, which focuses on the poet\u2019s early life with her father. Yes, the mother figures in, too, but mostly as a foil for the father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The writing here exhibits what I most look for in poetry\u2014a raw emotional intensity combined with a deft handling of form, even if the form is simply a tight narrative technique. This is old-school Confessional poetry, which can be truly moving when done right. Olds is a master of the extreme metaphor, as evidenced in the first poem of this section, \u201cSaturn,\u201d which compares her father to the titan devouring his kids. Goya\u2019s painting immediately springs to mind, though this Saturn seems more pernicious; he does not simply swallow his children whole, but rather cracks them open like shellfish, needing not only to consume them but break them in the process: \u201cMy brother\u2019s arm went in up to the shoulder \/ and he bit it off, and sucked at the wound \/ as one sucks at the sockets of a lobster.\u201d The father is shown to be passed out on the couch every night, so perhaps alcoholism was part of the problem, though that is never expressly stated. A similar hint appears in a later poem, \u201cJune 24,\u201d which states, \u201cYou died night after night in the years of my childhood, \/ sinking down into speechless torpor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The third section pivots to more sensual concerns, with a lot of poems about sex, desired and consummated, in all its messy glory. These, too, tend to be unabashedly straightforward in their description. As I\u2019ve said before, a straight man cannot write in such terms, using the same sort of diction and imagery, without inviting accusations of toxic masculinity. Of course, these poems were written 30 years ago, so prevailing sentiments were different. I\u2019m sure they must\u2019ve seemed even more scandalous at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The final section completes a natural progression from the third; that one focused on making babies, the final one focuses on raising them. Some of these seem a bit self-indulgent, with references that presumably hold more meaning for the poet than the reader. Still, the description is masterful. I suppose that\u2019s no surprise. Olds specializes in focusing on the smallest but most telling details, and as a parent, she\u2019s predisposed to notice the infinite minutiae that define her kids. Consider these lines from \u201cWhen My Son is Sick\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n I could\u2019ve selected any passage nearly at random and found similarly engaging language. That deft turn of phrase is what I love about Olds. Annoyingly, though, I was recently working on a poem and composed a phrase that seemed perfect and unique, and smiled at my good fortune to have discovered it. Then, in reading this book, I found the exact same phrase!<\/em> Olds had beaten me to it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n If I have any gripes at all with this book, I would say that it might\u2019ve been even more powerful if it had been a bit shorter. Perhaps some of the poems in the first or fourth sections could have been omitted\u2014though it would, admittedly, be hard to choose which ones. And what about that title? Well, there is a poem entitled \u201cIn the Cell\u201d but that doesn\u2019t seem representative of the collection overall. The cover shows a snake curled around a gold circle that resembles the sun. So on the one hand, it conveys a sort of alchemist aesthetic; but on the whole, it looks rather like an ovum, a round human egg cell, which makes a lot more sense, given the focus of the poems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This was Olds\u2019 third collection of poetry; other books received greater acclaim, but I\u2019d say that this one ranks among the best of them. Even after 30 years, it has not lost its currency or freshness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sharon Olds: The Gold Cell While I was searching through my shelf for Mary Oliver, I chanced to notice a book by Sharon Olds: The Gold Cell. I must\u2019ve had it for a long time, but as I flipped through … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/m.media-amazon.com\/images\/I\/4107pkAvNAL._SY445_SX342_.jpg\")
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\npale gold as cold butter and then
\nturning a little like rancid butter till the
\nfreckles seem to spread, black little
\nislands of mold\u2026<\/div>\n\n\n\n