Coming To Conclusions

27 Ramadhan 1434

Finished a couple of my reads for the holy month the other day. I can't say I enjoyed Seyyed Hossein Nasr's Islamic Life and Thought, but I certainly respected the writer and his essays. In some ways it's an uncompromising read, at times reading like a dry survey of the field, the field being the world of Islamic thought through several centuries. The occasionally strident tone also took some getting used to. But once you grasp Nasr's sense of urgency and the cogency of his massive alternative to much contemporary thought, things fall into place.

In contrast, things fell into place with regard to Donald Hall's Old and New Poems very early in my reading and from the mid-point of the volume I realised I'd found possibly my favourite American poet of recent times. (The chief contender being Archie Ammons. Oh, and Stephen Dobyns.) Every poem in the collection post-1970 shines with a relaxed brilliance, and there plenty of gems prior to that. So, as so often, in a time of dearth I am granted plenty.