Wonderful Portrait of Life Struggling with Illusion - Rated 
I loved this book! I picked this collection of transcendant poems while a senior in high school and was enthralled with its poignancy. I was able to relate to the character's questioning of an omnipresent God as well as the pain they faced when considering the possibilities of a harsh, uncaring "other" in the Heavens. Completely fulfilling and a joy to read!
A Fascinating Collection of Poems - Rated 
The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck is an intriguing collection of poems centered around life forms which seem to be present in her garden. She has interwoven her own personal experience and feelings into the poem, often, I felt, projecting her views onto the subjects of her poems. I finished reading the poems with the impression that I had learned a good deal about the author personally. On many occasions, she brought her husband and son by name into her poems revealing a little about the different relationships she experiences daily. She has a fascinating perspective on life and the collection is well worth taking a look at.
Human Emotions Brought to Life Through Flowers - Rated
Wild Iris, a book of poems, which allows one to visualize the personification of human emotions as a metaphor of flowers. Louise Gluck author, has masterfully taken us on a journey where time lies between alpha and omega, with boundaries that circumscribe within the realms of heaven and earth. What better way to travel, than through the "eyes" of the flowers scattered throughout the gardens of the world. This metaphor, when applied as reflective analogies pertaining to the essence of life and human experiences, creatively bonds the writer with the reader as one entity, exploring the aftermath of conscious thoughts pondered for insightfil wisdom. As the speaker in most of her poems, Louise Gluck joins us in kinship with feelings of pain, conscious awareness, and eternal truths. Therefore, we are escorted with her through an imaginary garden of flowers as parallel partners of human spirits combined with similar thoughts of awareness. Once this relationship has articulately interwoven its self within our highest condition of natural development, better known as maturity, reality takes its rightful place. perhaps, this can be perceived as the art of surviving the processes of living. I found myself completely enticed, and captivated with this bouquet of flowers, strangely mated with the imagery of petals and sepals used as portraits to describe personal feelings of love, pain and psychological trauma. I find the poems of " The Wild Iris," to be brilliant, intimately filled with emotions, and insightful with heartfelt reflections regarding the complexities of emotional survival.
Sweet and cranky offerings on life as spoken by flowers! - Rated
Louise Gluck's slim book of poetry "The Wild Iris" is a cycle of prayers, plaints, and observations on life and a supreme being, all couched in the language of flowers. Most of the poems are founded on descriptions of the life-cycle of flora, but also reflect Gluck's concerns about her relationship to herself, her lover, and her god. Her cranky god observes us humans as gardeners who have not tilled life's soil to its fullest potential. In "April" the god asks "Do you suppose I care if you speak to one another? But I mean you to know that I expected better of two creatures who were given minds: if not that you would actually care for each other at least that you would understand that grief is distributed between you, among all your kind..." Her imagery is crisp and her word choice is meaning packed. Some of her poems remind me of the early Imagist poetry of H. D. who used the natural world as a vehicle to describe deeper life issues. "The Red Poppy," and "The Gold Lily are especially evocative of H. D.'s style: "...not a flower yet, a spine only, raw dirt catching my ribs..." from "The Gold Lily" has the cadence and tenor of H. D.'s nature based lyrics. Gluck cleverly intersperses her "flower" poems with morning and evening prayers that speak of unattained goals, connections undone, and a yearning for a better understanding of her god's requirements. Overall, the poems are consistent with one another and the piece is nicely unified. Certain poems stand out for me as favorites. "Love in Moonlight" speaks of reckless choices made in the throes of love, or maybe lust! Beautiful phrases such as"...a whole world thrown away on the moon..." and "...shape without detail, the myth, the archetype, the soul filled with fire that is moonlight really..." evoke sensation as well as image. "Presque Isle" is another poem that conjurs up enchanting images: "In every life, a room somewhere, by the sea or in the mountains...A square white room, the top sheet pulled back over the bed...Around your face, rushes of damp hair, streaked with auburn." Her poems draw me into her not so perfect world, and it feels very comfortable there. Gluck articulates our insecurities and our yearnings with bittersweet prose, and heartfelt care.
The Wild Iris is a masterfully crafted book of psalms. - Rated
Want to know what it feels like to be a flower, a snowdrop, a god, or a mere mortal? Read The Wild Iris by Louise Gluck. Gluck explores the seasons of emotions ranging from despair to ecstasy in this extraordinary compilation of poems. The work expresses the raw vulnerability of a soul exposed to the elements of nature, both human and divine. Although the language is sparse and careful, the poems haunt with powerful images that draw the reader back for multiple readings. The Wild Iris is a masterfully crafted book of psalms about life seen through the eyes of the gardener, the garden, and the god.
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