Shall We Dance?: Poems of Desire and Meditation

The poems in Susan K. Hagen’s Shall We Dance? – subtitled Poems of Desire and Meditation – are a treat for the heart and the mind. They are as lush as they are philosophical. Irish poet Joan McBreen, author of Map and Atlas, has written this: “As is seen in Susan K. Hagen’s first poem in Shall We Dance? she celebrates not only the natural world but a rare joy in being alive. Just as passion, desire and longing are poetic themes explored again and again in the poems of Mary Oliver, they live on in Hagen’s work. And there is a vibrant reverence informing these poems: instead of ‘a strong wind’ being ‘a cruel wind,’ it becomes ‘the kiss of the spirit.’ Gardens being her ‘Gethsemane,’ she brings her readers there for love, protection and ultimately for universal peace. The reader’s answer to this poet’s question raised in the title poem should be Yes, we will ‘waltz to the wind’ like all the trees of the world.