Ten Poems to Set You Free

January 1, 2004
These niche titles use vocabulary and poetry as vehicles for self-help. As in his previous Ten Poems To Change Your Life and Ten Poems To Open Your Heart, Housden expands on the work of poets both well known (e.g., Thomas Merton) and obscure (e.g., Anna Swir), with an eye toward improving oneself. Housden's ardor for verse-it is "the spark, the fire at our center the one thing worthy of our true name"-approaches infatuation; are certain revelations present merely because Housden is looking too hard? Also, because he draws on some of the same poets here that he did in his earlier books (e.g., Rumi, Mary Oliver, and Naomi Shihab Nye), Housden gives the impression that he's only repeating himself. Harrell (An Attitude of Gratitude: 21 Life Lessons) encourages readers to reflect on 30 words in 30 days. In identically formatted chapters, he introduces those terms (e.g., enthusiasm) then presents insights that help reinforce the essence of the term (this makes up the subtitle's "say, believe, and receive" methodology). Quotes, like Vince Lombardi's "If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm," also help readers recall the lesson. Self-starters needing just the slightest jump-start will enjoy Harrell's device and find the lessons simple and effective; however, readers who desire a more thorough approach will grow impatient with the lack of how-to. Pass on both books. Public libraries would do better to consider sincere, appealing titles like Fred Rogers's The World According to Mister Rogers and Kent M. Keith's Do It Anyway: The Handbook for Finding Personal Meaning and Deep Happiness in a Crazy World.

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December 1, 2003
The third of Housden's books based on 10 poems explores the philosophical and spiritual questions involved in living life fully. In his customary style, Housden delves into a wide variety of poets, here including Polish Anna Swir, Greek Constantine P. Cavafy, Spanish Miguel De Unamuno, Turkish Rumi, and the Americans Jane Hirshfield, David Whyte, Mary Oliver, Stanley Kunitz, Naomi Shihab Nye, and Thomas Merton. The little volume's tone and tenor are perhaps best captured when Pulitzer Prize-winner Oliver asks in "Have You Ever Tried to Enter the Long Black Branches?" "Listen, are you breathing just a little, and calling it a life?" Housden calls this a "wake up and live" line. The theme is repeated in one way or another in all 10 poems, from Cavafy's "The God Abandons Antony," in which Antony "enjoys" feelings of devastating loss, to Anna Swir's mildly erotic "Thank You, My Fate." And once again, Housden sustains the charm and broadness of appeal of his intimate interpretational essays.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2003, American Library Association.)