Book
What have you lost? : poems / selected by Naomi Shihab Nye.
Record details
- ISBN: 0380733072
- Physical Description: xv, 206 p. ; 23 cm.
- Edition: 1st Harper Tempest ed.
- Publisher: New York : HarperCollinsPublishers, 2001.
Content descriptions
| General Note: | "A Greenwillow book." Includes indexes. |
Search for related items by subject
| Subject: | Readers for new literates. |
| Genre: | Readers. |
| Topic Heading: | Readers advanced. |
Available copies
- 1 of 1 copy available at Vancouver Community College.
Holds
- 0 current holds with 1 total copy.
Show Only Available Copies
| Location | Call Number / Copy Notes | Barcode | Shelving Location | Circulation Modifier | Holdable? | Status | Due Date | Courses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown Library | Advanced (Text) | 33109008661449 | Readers | Volume hold | Available | - |
- Book Report : The Book Report Reviews 1999 September-October
The poems in this collection are about loss: loved ones, innocence, youth, truth, or solitude. Nye has selected poets from England, Japan, Ireland, Korea, Nicaragua, and the United Sates. A useful feature is the notes on the poets, although a list of poets by country would have been helpful. The subject index is particularly helpful. Though seemingly unrelated to the poems, Michael Nye's sepia photographs could be used by a teacher as visual inspiration to generate original poems. Not the type of book teenagers will select on their own, this volume needs a teacher or librarian to direct activities and encourage students to read it. Optional Purchase. By Jamae Bruton, Media Specialist, Palm Bay High School, Milbourne, Florida © 1999 Linworth Publishing, Inc. - Booklist Reviews : Booklist Monthly Selections - #1 April 1999
Gr. 6^-12. "I am so in love I can't find my hat." There is nothing portentous about the contemporary poems and the occasional black-and-white photographs by Michael Nye in this anthology. The losses range from the trivial (a glove left in an airport terminal) to the tragic (a husband killed in Vietnam). In fact, as Nye points out in her splendid introduction, one reason why we fuss so much about petty losses is because we cannot bear to face the inevitable larger ones that can never be redeemed or reclaimed. This is a large collection of 140 poets, some well known (including William Stafford and Lucille Clifton), many published here for the first time, several in translation. Different poems will grab individual readers, depending on where they are now. The full-page portraits, mostly of teens, are never literal illustrations; whether posed or candid, they make you imagine their stories. The poets' voices are so intensely personal that you just have to turn to the biographical notes at the back after you have read each poem. They speak of failure, of being a "loser," of language (one bilingual poem is about what gets lost, not in translation, but between the happening of love or pain and its coming into words). Nuala Archer says plainly, "To lose or be lost quickens everything." Tell English teachers about this collection; they will find it a great stimulus for students' personal writing. ((Reviewed April 1, 1999)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews - Horn Book Magazine Reviews : Horn Book Magazine Reviews 1999 #2
In her thought-provoking introduction, the anthologist-poet considers loss-its certainty, scope, and effect, and its ability to give rise to art. The topic is thoroughly explored by the one hundred and forty poets whose work is collected here in twenty-two unlabeled, thematically arranged sections. The poems focus on specific losses, including those we experience as we grow up, leave home or homeland, fall in love, grow old; what we suffer when someone dies suddenly-or slowly; what we're deprived of by acts of violence and anger; and losses accrued through travel and distance. The poets are all contemporary, with a dozen or so hailing from outside the United States. That the great majority are previously unpublished or at least relatively unknown (contributors include a software engineer, a sportswriter, and a priest) should intrigue and encourage reader-writers: established poets obviously don't have a monopoly on publishable, memorable poems. Young adults, finding their way and wanting so much, will appreciate this collection about losing-and regaining-oneself through the experience of loss. Accompanying the poems are mostly affectless black-and-white portraits whose inclusion is puzzling. Notes on contributors include their thoughts on the question "What have you lost and found?"; indexes (not yet seen) will handily include an "index of losses." j.m.b. Copyright 1999 Horn Book Magazine Reviews - Kirkus Reviews : Kirkus Reviews 1999 February #2
From 140 contemporary poets, many of whom have never been published, Nye (The Space Between Our Footsteps, 1998, etc.) gathers observations, ruminations, and informal prose comments on the theme of loss: from clothing or a thought, to deaths of friends and family members, of innocence, time, opportunities, pride, a homeland. The selections are all free verse, direct of address, virtually free of obscure imagery or difficult language, most, but not all, originally written in English. Although the general tone is understandably lugubrious, made more so by Michael Nye's array of harshly naturalistic black-and-white portraits, some poets respond to the question of the title question more positively: ``I take myself back, fear./You are not my shadow any longer./I won't hold you in my hands.'' This is heavy reading, but it documents a universal experience in ways that are thought- provoking. (index, not seen) (Poetry. 12-15) Copyright 1999 Kirkus Reviews - School Library Journal Reviews : SLJ Reviews 1999 April
Gr 7 Up-"Loss" may seem a curious subject around which to center a collection of poetry, but this fine anthology feels absolutely natural. Lost memories, lost relationships, regret-each poem pierces and then releases readers, who pocket a new treasure at the end of each page. Naomi Nye has brought together over 100 selections from well-known adult poets as well as from those who are new or not widely published, from around the world. Notes on the contributors include quotes from the poets about their lives and work. Jennifer Weinblatt says, "Teenagers are often accused of melodrama, but there is a lot of genuine drama inherent in the teenage years...," and this sensibility permeates the collection. Michael Nye's black-and-white photographic portraits are as inventive and speak as much as the poems; in fact, they work best if viewed as independent works of art, instead of as illustrations. They add to the precise design of the book, on whose pages the words "What Have You Lost?" "What Have You Found?" float like random, ghostly reminders. As with Ruth Gordon's collection, Pierced by a Ray of Sun (HarperCollins, 1995), and Liz Rosenberg's Earth-Shattering Poems (Holt, 1995), What Have You Lost? puts into the hands of young adults new poems that speak to that intensely lonely, but consciousness-exploding time when they find themselves "Lost again,/where the world begins" (John Brandi's "Wilderness Poem").-Nina Lindsay, Oakland Public Library, CA Copyright 1999 School Library Journal Reviews - Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews : VOYA Reviews 1999 October
Nye's latest poetry collection inspires readers to explore their own lives and perhaps to try writing about their discoveries. Poems range in length from a few lines to two pages. They are by many different poets, some famous, many new and unknown,including William Stafford, Lucille Clifton, Andy oung, and Heberto Padilla, who approach the question of loss from a variety of angles. Nearly two dozen vivid black-and-white portraits visually reinforce and enhance this collection. Dreams, time, a wallet, child custody, and parents are among the topics explored in answer to the title question. Despite the universal appeal of this query, the actual poems themselves seem more appropriate for older readers. A melancholy tonehaunts the entire collection; many poets look back nostalgically at their childhood experiences, others look back at the still festering wounds and pain of their early years. There are not many poems that celebrate loss, investigate the humor of thetopic, or explore the volume's secondary theme-what have you found? Robert Phillips's contribution, My Valhalla, stands in lively contrast to this generalization: "Forget the Museum of Natural History/The Metropolitan or The Smithsonian./Thecollection I want to wander in/I call The Valhalla of Lost Things./The Venus de Milo's arms are here,/she's grown quite attached to them./I circle Leonardo's sixteen-foot-tall/equestrian statue, never cast, browse/all five-hundred-thousand volumes/ofthe Alexandrian Library, handle/artifacts of Atlantis. . . ."Loss may be different for all of us; here each loss is, at the very least, a potential poem-Dr. Megan Isaac. Copyright 1999 Voya Reviews
