I understood then

as any human being would, the difference between love and a love which is visionary. The first may well be guaranteed by security and attachment; only the second has power to transform.

Poetry is full of such transformations.

From Object Lessons: The Life Of The Woman And The Poet In Our Time
Eavan Boland

Eavan Boland's poems has not done much for me so far. There's only one I've read that struck me, and I quoted it in this blog. But I came across this book by her, in my local thrift shop today, and with a title like that, how could I not read it? It's feeding and stimulating me in all sorts of ways. Perhaps, like June Jordan, Boland will turn out to be a writer whose poems I can happily skip, but whose prose is vital food.