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Roger Housden, a native of Bath, England, emigrated to the
United States in 1998. He is the author of several works of nonfiction,
including Ten Poems to Change Your Life, and also a recent novella,
Chasing Rumi: A Fable About Finding the Heart’s True Desire. He gives
occasional public recitals of ecstatic poetry from the world’s great literary
and spiritual traditions.
This
article sponsored by:
Poemcrazy
is the poetic analog to Anne Lamott'sBird
by Bird or Natalie Goldberg's
Writing Down the Bones, two
classic works on how to forget that you "can't write" and just start the pen
moving. Susan Wooldridge is a swimming instructor in the wide ocean of language, encouraging us to move ever farther from the shore, dive deep, and dance on the
waves.
A Poetry Handbook This slender guide by
Mary Oliver deserves a place on
the shelves of any budding poet. In clear, accessible prose, Oliver (winner
of both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award for poetry) arms the
reader with an understanding of the technical aspects of poetry writing. Her
lessons on sound, line (length, meter, breaks), poetic forms, tone, imagery, and revision are illustrated by a handful of
wonderful poems.
What could have been a dry account is infused throughout with Oliver's
passion for her subject, which she describes as "a kind of possible love
affair between something like the heart (that courageous but also shy
factory of emotion) and the learned skills of the conscious mind." One comes
away from this volume feeling both empowered and daunted. Writing poetry is
good, hard work.
I picked up Housden's Ten Poems to Change your
Ten
Poems to Change your Life about a year ago, mainly because I wanted to understand poetry better.
From the first poem, Mary Oliver's The Journey,I was bewitched.
"One day you finally knew what you had to do and began.."
I don't know if I understand poetry better, but I understand humanity better
for this lovely book. Housden has shared the impact a writer can have on
the readers soul. As for Ten poems to Open Your Heart--It's
my wish for a wonderful Valentines gift. (Sure hope my husband reads
this.)
Mr. Housden is married to
Maria Housden, author of Hannah’s Gift. It's clear the spiritual journey that guides the
path of both of these writers comes from the human place of suffering and joy.
--
Risking Everything: 110 Poems of Love...
This luminous anthology brings together great poets from around the world whose
work transcends culture and time. Their words reach past the outer divisions to
the universal currents of love and revelation that move and inspire us all.
These poems urge us to wake up and love. They also call on us to relinquish our
grip on ideas and opinions that confine us and, instead, to risk moving forward
into the life that is truly ours.
In his selection, Roger Housden has placed strong emphasis on contemporary
voices such as the American poet laureate Billy Collins and the Nobel
Prize–winners Czeslaw Milosz and Seamus Heaney, but the collection also includes
some timeless echoes of the past in the form of work by masters such as Goethe,
Wordsworth, and Emily Dickinson.
The tens of thousands of readers of Roger Housden’s “Ten Poems” series will
welcome this beautiful harvest of poems that both open the mind and heal the
heart.
Ten Poems to Open Your Heart is a book devoted to love: to the intimacy of
personal love and lovemaking, to a loving compassion for others, and to the love
that embraces both this world and the next. This new volume from Roger Housden
features a few of the same poets as his extraordinarily moving Ten Poems to
Change Your Life, such as Mary Oliver and Pablo Neruda, along with contributions
from Sharon Olds, Wislawa Szymborska, Czeslaw Milosz, Denise Levertov, and
others. Any one of the ten poems and, indeed, any one of Housden’s reflections
on them, can open, gladden, or pierce your heart.
Through the voices of these ten inspiring poets, and through illustrations from
his own life, Housden expresses the tenderness, beauty, joys, and sorrows of
love, the presence of which, more than anything else, gives human existence its
meaning.
As Housden says in his eloquent introduction, "Great poetry happens when the
mind is looking the other way and words fall from the sky to shape a moment that
would normally be untranslatable. . . . When the heart opens, we forget
ourselves and the world pours in: this world, and also the invisible world of
meaning that sustains everything that was and ever shall be."
Ten Poems to Set You Free.Ten
poems to set you free? Free of what? Of complicated explanations,
and other peoples’ stories ( Rumi); of caution and prudence ( Mary
Oliver): of sadness ( Unamuno); of failing luck and work gone wrong
( Cavafy); free of whatever it is that prevents you in this moment
from claiming the life that is truly yours. It is the truth that
sets you free, and these poems are its messengers.
This is a dangerous book. Great poetry calls into question not less than
everything. It dares us to break free from the safe strategies of the cautious
mind. It opens us to pain and joy and delight. It amazes, startles, pierces, and
transforms us. It can lead to communion and grace.
Through the voices of ten inspiring poets and his own reflections, the author of
Sacred America shows how poetry illuminates the eternal feelings and desires
that stir the human heart and soul. These poems explore such universal themes as
the awakening of wonder, the longing for love, the wisdom of dreams, and the
courage required to live an authentic life. In thoughtful commentary on each
work, Housden offers glimpses into his personal spiritual journey and invites
readers to contemplate the significance of the poet's message in their own
lives.
An Interview With Roger
Housden
Mr. Housden, has your spiritual journey changed the way you write?
The way I write is part of my
exploration and spiritual journey. It is an archeological dig in
language to give form to the inchoate movements of soul.
You've been described as a "lifelong student of the word." Do you
have any favorite words?
The funny thing is, that was a misprint. It should have read "
lifelong student of the world." One of my favorite words is the French
for magician - prestidigitator. Another is mellifluous.
Do you have anything else you'd like to say to our readers?
Yes, keep reading!
Many thanks to Mr. Housden
for gracing our pages with this brief interview. I
find certain words are fun or favorites. I just like the way
they sound. I was thrilled that Mr. Housden had some favorite
words too!(Even it was a misprint that led to the discussion.) Do explore his books--You'll never be quite the same,
you'll be better.--Amy Jenkins
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Poemcrazy
is the poetic analog to Anne Lamott's
Bird
by Bird or Natalie Goldberg's
Writing Down the Bones, two
classic works on how to forget that you "can't write" and just start the pen
moving. Susan Wooldridge is a swimming instructor in the wide ocean of language, encouraging us to move ever farther from the shore, dive deep, and dance on the
waves. 
