Erotic Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) Review

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Erotic Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) ReviewI find myself perplexed. What is desire?
The impulse to make someone else complete?
When I purchased the Everyman Love Poems book I was excited about purchasing additional selections. I must say this book was not exactly what I expected and even the author makes a note about these poems being sensuous and passionate but not erotic as we would imagine erotic to be today. This could make you happy or cause you disappointment. I found many of the poems to be more exotic than erotic. While many are striking and interesting, there are not many that inspire immediate desire. The poems seem to be more of a study of poetry than a presentation for pleasure. The poems are more romantic and interesting with short moments of sensuality.
Many of the poems seem to focus more on environments than erotic experience, although there are many references to the body and emotions. They seem to be more of an afterthought than the main theme in many of the poems. Poems like The Imperfect Enjoyment by Lord Rochester and Twin Hills by Vidyapati are the exception.
In my body you search the mountain
for the sun buried in its forest.
In your body I search for the boat
adrift in the middle of the night.
~Octavio Paz
Erotic Poems is also a collection of poems written mostly by men (and many are translated by men) and therefore seems to lack the diversity I was seeking in an erotic poem collection. While I love reading poems by men, I missed the female perspective. I could also not understand why they included Aurelius by Catullus or Hello There by Philodemus.
While Peter Washington organized the poems in a chain of thematic association, it would seem better to have poems with more variety and to include more poems by female poets. Sylvia Plath (1932-1963) makes her appearance with Zoo Keeper's Wife and I rather liked the lines about how she pretended to be the Tree of Knowledge. Himalayan Balsam is also a beautiful poem by Anne Stevenson.
You will find numerous poems by Robert Graves and Charles Baudelaire. You will also find poems by D.H. Lawrence, Walt Whitman, Thom Gunn, Li Ch'ung, Anon, Pablo Neruda and William Blake.
There are poems for a variety of tastes, however most of the poems seem to be classic selections that focus on descriptions of nature or emotions instead of erotic encounters. While there are quite a few moments of sexual beauty, I seem to prefer the poems in Passionate Hearts by Wendy Maltz. It seems this collection of Erotic Poems is a classic representation of what Erotic Poems used to be. If you are looking for modern erotic poems, you may be disappointed. What is interesting is that with some patience, this book reveals a commonality of desire. It is more a study of longing and desire veiled in metaphors with an occasional "enters warm yes" moment. This book seems to inspire a lust for language and a need to locate your dictionary.
I think if you read this book, you will definitely want to look for The Erotic Spirit edited by Sam Hamill and A Book of Love Poetry edited by Jon Stallworthy. You may also enjoy Perfectly Said by Brian Douthit or A Night Without Armor by Jewel.
~The Rebecca Review
Erotic Poems (Everyman's Library Pocket Poets) OverviewThese poems, selected from most of the cultures and histories of world literature, provide magnificent witness to the fact that love is as much an act of the imagination as it is of the body. From fourth-century Li Ch'ung's "Parody of a Lover" to John Betmeman's "Late-Flowering Lust," they re-create, through the revelations of language, that experience of the erotic. Other poets include Theodore Roethke, Robert Graves, Octavio Paz, Joseph Brodsky, Sylvia Plath, Frederico Garcia Lorca, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and many others.

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