{"product_id":"still-house-in-the-desert-brenda-hillman-9780819502414","title":"Still House in the Desert: An Eco-Contemplation","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMeditations on time, space, and objects in houses, as well as lives of children, mothers \u0026amp; non-human creatures in domestic spaces\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eEach of Brenda Hillman's books has been transformative for her readers, and her twelfth collection is no exception. Building on previous volumes about seasons, days and minutes, Hillman concludes her masterful quartet about time with an ecological journey into a family home of the mid-twentieth century. Here, magical poems explore rooms as opportunities for dream, and domestic objects as the dream-shapes where culture and imagination inform each other. In that way, the poet celebrates the layered lives of children and adults, including, strikingly, the life of her mother, a native of Brazil whose presence intimately links the processes of inner vision and daily tasks. Like Hillman's other pioneering work, these poems are personal and collective; they braid the spiritual, the scientific, the political, and the visionary. Short spare lyrics are placed beside longer pieces; small photos add to the visual structures of the pages. One long prose poem explores the child's neurological anxiety and the awakening of mid-century environmental consciousness, while another is a meditation on women's domestic work with textiles and the rhetoric of literary repetition. The closing sequence gives homage to unlikely intersections of humans with non-human lives, including dust mites, moths, and mycorrhizal roots. This remarkable collection will plunge readers into the mysteries of childhood and of childhood houses everywhere.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Sample Poem]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe newspaper \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSunlight crosses the room bearing elastic dust motes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eClouds graze steadily over the house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTrucks cross the suburbs; they have been cleared for departure.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe mother scours the morning paper for facts \u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; uplifting stories, laughing-- \u003cbr\u003ealmost a little snort-- \u003cbr\u003emaybe it's disbelief, maybe\u003cbr\u003eit's puffs of air pushed out by her idea of God. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn this line, it's the next century, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ein this line the mother \u0026amp; her little laugh are gone, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ein this line two ravens eat a carcass in Maryland, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ea hurried driver doesn't hit a fawn, \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003ethe vote is being tallied, the red seeps across the map\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u0026amp; drips from the thick finger of Florida into a sea \u003cbr\u003e of pre-named storms, \u0026amp; the sea of blood rises, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe small barge carrying corpses of fact \u0026amp; dream, \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003etheir bones wrapped together in newsprint.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Brenda Hillman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0819502413\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780819502414\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Wesleyan University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 152\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Brenda Hillman","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48443134148863,"sku":"9780819502414","price":28.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_e9dcc120-0baa-4cd6-bcce-4620bc3179c4.jpg?v=1777202062","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/still-house-in-the-desert-brenda-hillman-9780819502414","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}