Book Club June 2025

The poet for June is Jane Hirschfield, and our leader for this month is Sarah Brehm. Follow the links below to an interview with the author and to her poems. And please RSVP at the bottom of this page.

From Sarah: I learned about Jane Hirshfield via an On Being interview in 2021, “Jane Hirshfield: The Fullness of Things.” This is from the description: The esteemed writer Jane Hirshfield has been a Zen monk and a visiting artist among neuroscientists. She has said this: “It’s my nature to question, to look at the opposite side. I believe that the best writing also does this … It tells us that where there is sorrow, there will be joy; where there is joy, there will be sorrow … The acknowledgement of the fully complex scope of being is why good art thrills … Acknowledging the fullness of things,” she insists, “is our human task.” And that’s the ground Krista meanders with Jane Hirshfield in this conversation: the fullness of things — through the interplay of Zen and science, poetry and ecology — in her life and writing.

The “On Being” podcast is available online and via podcast apps. The web page at https://onbeing.org/programs/jane-hirshfield-the-fullness-of-things/ has links to the episode, the unedited conversation, and a transcript. The Poetry Foundation website has a detailed bio and about 40 poems: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jane-hirshfield.

The focus for Book Club 2025 is poetry: powerful words packed in an accessible format. Each month we discuss a different book or author; a member of the group gets to select the book and lead discussion. We’re a casual group, so there’s no need to worry about the difference between syntax and simile … just gathering together for good company and conversation.

We’ll have beverages and maybe a snack, light conversation, some time to capture our thoughts in a journal; we may sit or walk outside when the weather is right.

We have two friendly dogs who can be kept in a separate area from guests by request.