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As a 3rd generation immigrant of a family of carpenters and tailors from
Prague (on my mother's side) this poem rang like a bell in my head the
first time I encountered it in the late 1970's. "Solid as a bench" is such
a visceral image to anyone who has worked with wood. Levertov is so direct
in this poem, none of the vaguely mysterious symbolism that enchants us.
Nevertheless, the pull of family history makes this piece enchanting in its
own right. The mystery of those whom we can never know and yet carry in us
is powerful, and Levertov succeeds mightily in expressing that power.
Marilyn Rea Beyer from United States