The Carrying: Poems

There’s a lot we carry knowingly — and some weights we think we’ve shed, only to realize they still press against us. Ada Limón’s “The Carrying” felt like a witness to both kinds of weight for me. “A Name” spoke to the deep human need not just for acknowledgment, but for recognition — to be seen and known fully “Trying” knocked the air out of me, a reminder that persistence can be both desire and faith. “Full Gallop” felt like an ode to the wild woman — or simply the woman who remembers her own expansiveness. “Carrying” brought tears to my eyes, a reflection on transmuting personal pain so that others might find light, and how we rise together. These were my favorite poems, and this is how I connected with them. I loved how Ada Limón’s poetry reels you into the unfolding of an ordinary moment made extraordinary by presence. You carry both grief and joy in her words, and you find yourself asking: “How do I carry all of these without crumbling beneath their weight?” Her poems show the way. 💬 Favorite Quotes: “When Eve walked among the animals and named them— nightingale, red-shouldered hawk, fiddler crab, fallow deer— I wonder if she ever wanted them to speak back, looked into their wide wonderful eyes and whispered ‘Name me, name me.’” “But sometimes I swear I hear it, the wound closing like a rusted-over garage door…” “unanswered messages like ghosts in the throat…” “Look, we are not unspectacular things. We’ve come this far, survived this much. What would happen if we decided to survive more? To love harder?” “… how hawks are both serene and scary as hell, scary that is, if you’re the mouse. That’s the trick, we say, isn’t it? Don’t be the mouse.” “How my own body, empty, clean of secrets, knows how to carry her, knows we were all meant for something.”

This is a voice that is worldly wise, and I mean wise in the sense of cherishing her world. A voice engaged in nurturing that world. This is a voice whose owner is uncertain about her own strengths, a modest, sometimes almost self-effacing voice. This is an earth mother’s voices and the voice of a woman who is childless. But she cannot help but nurture nature, cherish her mate, bond with the sparrows over birdsong. This is a writer who loves language with a giving, generous spirit, giving life to her ideas and emotions, and allowing them to breathe. I look forward to reading her other collections. She picked me up and returned me to the ground, hence carrying me to a very pure place.

I heard Ada Limon read "Wonder Woman" on the radio, and was so moved by it, that I had to pick up the book. The collection is, to borrow a metaphor from a previous reviewer, a thunderstorm. It is slow to start - the first 18 poems didn't really grab me or really capture my imagination. But like a storm, the pressure builds until there is a tremendous release and torrent. So, too, here, as the remaining two-thirds of the collection really hit me where I live. Among my favorites are her "The Contract Says: We'd Like the Conversation to be Bi-lingual" in which Limon writes, "When you come, bring your brown- ness so we can be sure to please the funders. Will you check this box; we're applying for a grant. Do you have any poems that speak to troubled teens? Bilingual is best. ..." Several of her poems seem to be of a more personal nature, which I struggled connecting with. Those that touched on issues of politics, race, gender and broader descriptions of relationships and life resonated more with me - like "Wonder Woman" and "Instructions on Not Giving Up": "More than the fuchsia funnels breaking out of the crabapple tree, more than the neighbor's almost obscene display of cherry limbs shoving their cotton-candy colored blossoms to the slate sky of spring rains, its the greening of the trees that really gets to me ..." I am glad that I pushed through the first section of the collection - the images, the perspectives, the emotions that Limon stirred in me through her poems were why I read poetry in the first place: they capture moments in time and open a door through which I can connect with the poet. A beautiful anthology.

Ada Limón's The Carrying is a poignant exploration of love, loss, and resilience that resonates deeply. With lyrical grace and profound honesty, Limón navigates the tender landscapes of infertility, familial bonds, and societal upheavals. Her poetry is a testament to the human spirit's capacity to endure and find beauty amidst adversity. This collection is a must-read for anyone seeking poetry that speaks directly to the heart and soul.

Ada Limon’s poems are like a daydream. Consider your most peaceful moments—the contemplative, content ones where you get to observe a moment in your life as if it were in a museum. Consider thinking and not thinking, transcending thought, absorbing and experiencing, contributing and receiving. In The Carrying, Limon writes about her life with impressionistic grace, conjuring all the soaring triumph of a quiet moment during golden hour. She does this even when writing about what’s difficult: grappling with her struggles to have a child, struggling with self-image, considering what it means to love and be loved. Her poems are fiercely personal, and because of that they are universal in their beauty. Like all good poets, Ada Limon offers no answers through her work, but offers her company while we play with questions. The result is a comforting and deeply human collection that embodies the strength and curiosity of the nature she so frequently invokes. If you don’t know Ada Limon, I am envious of you. The only thing more perfect than experiencing her is discovering her.

This was just not preferred brand of poetry. While there were some really excellent lines, a lot of which I highlighted, it just wasn't to my tastes.

Ada Limón is a superb poet whose writing spans pedestrian, but never ordinary, mystical, but never nostalgic, satisfying, yet not larded, stories. This is one of those books that I read, and re-read, never in the same order. I simply open to a page and let her work amaze me.

I'm so pleased that she is the new poet laureate of the United States. Her poems are first rate -- deeply emotional, deeply intelligent, and also accessible.

If you love poetry this one will challenge you but make you never want to put it down.

Really good book, great value, would definitely recommend

there are poems that are really enjoyed and were breathless by them, others were okay

Ada Limon’s The Carrying introduced me to some of the most poignant, heartfelt, and relatable poems I have ever read. Her words have a serene grasp that catapults you into a magnetism. Her ability to translate the mundane into poetic expression is one terrific quality that is present in all of her poems. What’s so remarkable and grounded about her writing is the way she juxtaposes modern human life with this growing sense of fear over environmental or ecological decay. All of the poems in this collection are of terrific velocity in both their meaning and composition. Ada Limon’s command over the pen is greatly admirable. I truly see The Carrying becoming a modern classic in the near future. This was my first read from Limon’s poetry collection, but I’m committed to coming back for more.

The best English poetry i have ever read