I Praise My Destroyer: Poems

By Diane Ackerman

Book Overview

In her first new book of poetry since Jaguar of Sweet Laughter , poet and naturalist Diane Ackerman combines her deep understanding of the world with her immense passion for language to craft richly sensual poems that "honor all life/wherever and in whatever form/it may deal." Imbued with ravishing imagery, these exuberant and lyrical explorations of aging, longing, and death demonstrate Ackerman's full engagement with every aspect of life's process. Ackerman muses on the confines of therapy sessions, where she intersects "twice a week/in a painstaking hide-and-seek/making do with half-light, half-speak"; relishes the succulent pleasure of eating an apricot, with its "gush of taboo sweetness"; and imagines the "unupholstered voice, a life in outline" in her stunning elegy to C. S. Lewis. Whimsical, organic, and wise, the poems in I Praise My Destroyer affirm Ackerman's place as one of the most enchanting poets writing today.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679771344
• ISBN13: 9780679771340
• Release Date: August 2000
• Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.2" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Messenger of Wonder

If you love great poetry, read this book. If you love nature, and suffer to see it destroyed, and want to learn to suffer without hating, read this book. Diane, you are truly a messenger of wonder.

A feast for the senses and the soul

Here is gorgeous, thoughtful poetry, both lush and precise, engaging both heart and mind. I can't imagine anyone coming away from the riches of this slim volume unmoved. Whenever you fear that the world is too drab, too grey, too hopeless, dip into the quiet, deep beauty of these pages and be renewed.

A poet with eyes wide open

Diane Ackerman has given us an incredible gift. The everday becomes spectacular, humanity precious, and nature blessed. I really loved Wildflowers and Where You Will Find Me.

A collection to treasure!

I can't say enough wonderful things about this book! Her poem "The Consolation of Apricots" alone is worth the price. Thank you, Diane.

Gorgeous poetry about coming to terms with being mortal.

Ackerman presents a book of poems that any mortal can relate to and be deeply moved by. The poems encourage us to accept our fate as human beings (death, ultimately) with grace and appreciation for the forces of nature, great and small, which move our lives and shape our world. Gorgeous, sensual poetry on themes of life woven with descriptions of natural and botanical elements. As one who does not believe in God and often feels distraught over having to accept the fact of my own mortality, it is comforting and consoling to read some of the poems which encourage us to humbly accept the mysterious beauty of our world and the powerful forces of nature which govern our existance and simply to enjoy the sensual lovliness of life while we can.