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Jane Hirshfield's
metaphysical poems

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return us to precision
and to beauty in poetry

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at the end of this
harrowing century.

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There is a precision of
imagery and thought based

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in the primary colors
and in the mineral

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and in the vegetable elements.

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There is a precision in
her devotion to this Earth

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and by association to the
language of this Earth

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and to the conscious
figures of that language.

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Beginning with the titles of
her poems like "Happiness"

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or "The Wedding" or
"The Water Diamonds,"

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we meet solid shapes and
enchanting, familiar formations.

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We meet the noun straight
on without vagaries.

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And as for one of
the humblest agents

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of our language,
the sweet adjective,

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we meet it here as a sprite
with powerful imaginative leaps.

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We meet for example
the half-dazed planets,

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white-scented blossoms, patient
lions, and glossy roosters

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of a large clear world.

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Jane Hirshfield's
images and the ideas

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saturating them are alive
by way of their beauty,

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and by beauty, I
mean, freshness.

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For as we are shown,
freshness is divine.

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Pay attention, the
words say to us.

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Listen to worlds within worlds.

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These freshly washed words are
in Jane Hirshfield's October

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Palace, Of Gravity
and Angels, and Alaya.

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She's also edited Women
in Praise of the Sacred

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and was editor and co-translator
of The Ink Dark Moon.

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Her next book, The
Lives of the Heart,

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will be published by
HarperCollins in 1997.

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I hope we will get a preview
of some of those poems tonight,

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poems beautiful and precise
because of the real and spirit

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worlds commingled.

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Lovingly included
in the anthology

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Jane compiled, the
poet Mirabai wrote

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what I have taken freely to
describe Jane's poetic process.

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The wild woman of the forests
discovered the sweet plums

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by tasting.

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Please join me in welcoming
our guest, Jane Hirshfield.

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[APPLAUSE]

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