Poetry June 2008 Atlantic

by Jane Hirshfield

Vinegar and Oil

Article Tools

E-mail Article
Printer Format

Wrong solitude vinegars the soul,
right solitude oils it.

How fragile we are, between the few good moments.

Coming and going unfinished,
puzzled by fate,

like the half-carved relief
of a fallen donkey, above a church door in Finland.

Jane Hirschfield's 2006 collection, After, was a finalist for England's T.S. Eliot Prize. She received an Academy Fellowship from the Academy of American Poets in 2004.

Article Tools

E-mail Article
Printer Format

What do you think? Discuss this article in Post & Riposte.

Subscribe to our e-mail newsletter.

From the Archives

March 2006

Pyracantha and Plum

From Atlantic Unbound

Interviews: "Some Place Not Yet Known"

(September 18, 1997)
Jane Hirshfield discusses the lives of poetry—public and private, sensual and spiritual.

The Bell Zygmunt

(March 2004)
A poem by Jane Hirshfield. [with audio]


Name

Address 1

Address 2

City

State Zip

Email

Atlantic Voices

Palin, The Reformer? Read more

05 September 2008 7:39 P.M.

The Importance of Being Interviewed Read more

05 September 2008 4:55 P.M.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder Read more

05 September 2008 09:30 A.M.

Open Thread For Obama Supporters Read more

05 September 2008 3:54 P.M.

On Fred Read more

05 September 2008 1:02 P.M.

Non-politics: Google Chrome, first in a series Read more

05 September 2008 12:42 P.M.

Maira Kalman's Tel Aviv Read more

05 September 2008 3:13 P.M.

John McCain's speech Read more

05 September 2008 03:28 A.M.