The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart: A Poetry Anthology

I was introduced to this book at a storytelling workshop last year. It is a thoughtfully curated collection of poetry —honest, raw, tender, and powerful all at once. Highly recommended!

In 1992, editors Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade had made and published these original and ingenious selections of poems written in and translated into English. They blended the poetic works of master traditional poets (Shakespeare, Keats, Yeats, Dickinson, Hopkins) with 20th-century masters (Stevens, Thomas, Pound, Frost, Eliot) and "post-Modern" poets (Levertov, Snyder, Rexroth, Levine, Langston Hughes, Kunitz, Bly himself) wonderfully together with great poets from world literature (Catullus, Rumi, Rilke, Akhmatova, Lorca, Neruda, Milosz). The book is divided into sixteen thematic sections ("Approach to Wildness" to "Loving the World Anyway"), each section introduced by the editors with brief, eloquent, insightful essays. What more can I say, but: buy, browse, and read this book of bright and dark flowers over and over.

I just came across a photo of Robert Bly on his farm in2009 and thought about how important his poetry has beento me over the years and his teaching as well. I was given an anthologyBly had Edited and a video back around 1990-92 or so. The book was titled"The Rag & Bone Shop of The Heart" and I recently purchased the hardbackversion of it because I love it so much. The video was a tape of a Bill Moyer's PBSspecial that featured Robert Bly and his work with the men's movement at the time.It was called "A Gathering of Men" and in it Bly performs spoken word poemswith music and lectures gatherings of men. The poetry is transcendent and beautifuland his reading of "The Wind One Brilliant Day" inspired me to perform it with my ownband later on. There is a healing component to Bly's work, but not without digging aroundin the "mud" of everyday life and going through the grief that all of us face first. I alwaysthought of Robert Bly as one of my Spiritual Fathers, a Poet who cares about Souls.

Very nice collection; enjoyed perusing it.

If you loved Iron John, you should read this book. But if you either (1) didn't read Iron John, (2) tried to read but couldn't finish Iron John, or (3) hated Iron John, you should especially read this book. I have to say up front that I don't agree with, or perhaps understand, many aspects and details of the men's movement. I was one person who tried mightily to read and enjoy Iron John, but simply couldn't get all the way through it. Then I found this book, and I have been reading it since. This was 10 years ago. I am exaggerating of course, but only a little. This book is a constant in my reading habits. I refer to it again and again, and have recommended it (and purchased it) for more friends than any other book I know.Simply, this is a wonderful anthology of poetry, organized thematically, for men. Many of the individual poems are brilliant, and the overall organization is intelligent and, at times, profound. As I have grappled with marriage, fatherhood, aging parents--all the trappings of midlife--this book has been a constant source of wisdom and comfort for me. Do a kind thing for yourself or for a thoughtful man in your life and buy this book.

This is unlike modern poetry in that it has plain and redundant use of language without any brainstormed creativity. It gives poems that make you think and reflect back on the deeper meaning. It's nice to see quality poetry still exists.

Great gift for any older boy or man. Deeply thoughtful, sacred and profane. The poems/poets selected for this compilation are excellent and the commentaries by Robert Bly, James Hillman and Michael Meade are true to the nature of men. I gave a copy of this to my son and he and I often select a poem to discuss via email (he lives in another state), peeling away the layers and reflecting how it resonates in our own lives. A beautiful piece of work.

Great book. I have used this book in men's therapy groups for years.

Anthologies are difficult to review in some ways. Worse than poetry collections by one poet, there is no consistency of style, or person writing. Yet it often can be interesting to see a range of poems. by different writers put together.Before considering the poems a few words, about the sub-title "Poems for Men" which always causes comment in my experience. In some ways this is the only place where this anthology lets down. Yet as the editors also explain in the introduction, this is not meant to exclude women. There are poems by women poets inside including Sharon Olds, Emily Dickinson and Anna Akhmatova). The sub-title comes from the fact that they were poems used while facilitating at various "men's movement" workshops. Certainly the contents have much for anyone regardless of gender will enjoy. I have given this anthology to women who have enjoyed it.Once getting past that, this anthology is one of the liveliest I have come across. The poems are arranged in various themes connected with around challenges in life such as suffering, death, fatherhood with essays by one of the editors. There are also maxims form the likes of Goethe, Heraclitus and Pythagoras. Poems from Ancient Greece, India, Persia, Latin America as well as from contemporary and modern English Language poets, There are translations of poets like Pablo Neruda, Antonio Machado, and Rilke many from Bly who must be one of the most prolific translators of poetry from many cultures. There is a lot of life between these pages. Along with Hughes and Heaney's  The Rattle Bag: An Anthology of Poetry  this is my favourite anthology of all: a book to have by the bedside that will last a lifetime. The Rattle Bag: An Anthology of Poetry

I love this book, it is aimed at men in general and the phases they go through in life, that are hardly ever acknowledged in the secular society we live in, by that I mean times like changing from a boy to a man, relationships, Fatherhood, getting older, wiser and hopefully more mature with age. recognising these changes and how they affect men in general.

Some incredible poems in here and wonderful explorations of life and masculinity at the start of each chapter. Highly recommended to everyone!

I love the way I can keep dipping into this book - always finding something relevant and thought provoking. This is my third copy - as I keep giving it away to friends.

Tokk a few weeks to come from America but well worth the wait. Some poets I had never read before and some new material from old favourites.