Bluets

By: Maggie Nelson

Narrated by: Maggie Nelson

Suppose I were to begin by saying that I had fallen in love with a color....

Since 2009, when it first published, to today, Bluets has drawn scores of readers and listeners with its surprising insights into the emotional depths that make us most human - via 240 short pieces, at once lyrical and philosophical, on the color blue. This new edition celebrates Maggie Nelson’s uncompromising vision, inviting longtime fans and newcomers alike to experience and share in an indispensable work that continues to disrupt the literary landscape.

©2009 Maggie Nelson (P)2019 Blackstone Publishing

Gloved Grief - A Response from a stranger.

You circle your grief,
pack it tightly in the bundle.
Gloved hands—transparent, sterile.
You look through the glass
instead of directly,
always with a filter,
always with a filler.

You tie your bundle of burning—
burning—
and cannot bear to trace its outline.
The chalk of the body print
lies on your floor,
and you look out a window,
away,
anywhere but where you are.

It is hoisted high above you,
on the vaulted ceiling
you selected
for this exact intention.

Your hands are cold
even from your own warmth.
You watch yourself
from a bird’s-eye view,
and scour your home
for the items you have
willingly hidden.

The desire to own it,
to taste your own emotion,
to feel the break—
is shrouded
by your reluctance
to look at yourself
with intentionality.

You circle your obsession
with poems,
with philosophers,
with any tangible form
that lets you hold yourself
without touching your own hand.

You bleed the meaning from intimacy.
You deny the sacred’s presence within you
by coating desire in apathy,
claiming lust
as the only hunger that matters.
A refusal to remember
the memory.

But I see it.

I see the pool of history and blood
stagnant underneath you.
You bleed,
even if you refuse to look at your wound.

I see the grief
you run from—
and chase.

You are as present
as you are willing to be.
For yourself.
For others.

You deny yourself
the waves of your own filling,
and float
on the blue water instead.
Surrounded.
Aware.
Neither sinking,
nor absorbing.

You ask how to move on,
how to change,
how to grow.

You must meet yourself
in every version of your truth,
and accept her there.
Only then
will you be able
to move.

You catalog your deflection
like a scientist,
only interested
in the side effects—
never the cause.

Mesmerizing

Listening to this work was a mesmerizing experience. As she shifted from artistic and literary references to her own sense memories to her personal interactions with friends and lovers, the reader is carried along on a sea of constantly transforming Blues. Wonderful! Four Stars.

Relatable and real

I loved this poetry/story……very relatable and my favorite color is blue, any shade.

Great

I love the content and the author’s voice. I find that I want to read an actual book with this one so that I can see the words.

a disruptive and powerful text

Exploring grief, love, loss, change, sexuality, and variations of blue in a series of 240 loosely linked "propositions," Maggie Nelson's book defies genre and classification while offering listeners a glimpse of feeling outside oneself. Read by the author, be prepared to be devastated, discombobulated, and uplifted. Be prepared, also, for some trauma (vehicular, relational) and coarse language (ffffff). Prose poetry / lyrics essay.

Long lasting

Still thinking about this book months later. Maggie Nelson is sooo mesmerizing in her writing.

Loved it!

Great listen! Lots to ponder…
I think I will give it another listen there’s so much to think about.

authors shouldn't always read their own works

I really really wish someone else had been brought on to perform this book. Nelson's voice is extremely flat. There's no difference between her reading her most intense poem and reading the end credits.

Blue love

A beautiful book. The perfect relaxing listen for a painter or anyone who craves antidotes on color. Life is so complicated it is nice to have a moments respite of blue.

Lovely

I thoroughly enjoyed. I’m seeking to learn more (about?) poetry. This was was a treat, I can’t wait to share with others.