Jane Hirshfield: Given Sugar, Given Salt

What does it mean to accept both the sweetness and the bitterness of life? Jane Hirshfield's Given Sugar, Given Salt presents poetry that explores the full spectrum of human existence with luminous clarity and profound wisdom. Hirshfield is one of contemporary poetry's most celebrated voices, known for her Zen-influenced verse that finds the sacred in the ordinary and illuminates life's deepest questions with precision and grace. This collection offers poems that are, as O Magazine wrote, "the kind that could—before you even realize it—have quietly changed your life."

In poems complex in meaning yet clear in statement and depiction, Hirshfield explores questions of identity, aging, death, and time's relentless passage and variegated gifts. Whether meditating upon a button, the role of habit in our lives, or the elusive nature of our relationship to sleep, she brings each subject into surprising and magnified existence. Her work embodies what William Matthews called her "praise of ceaseless mutability as life's central splendor," finding beauty and meaning in change, impermanence, and the ordinary moments that constitute a life. Hirshfield's poetry is deeply influenced by Zen Buddhism, yet speaks universally to the human condition.

For contemplative readers, Hirshfield's poetry offers profound meditation on impermanence, attention, acceptance, and the examined life. Her work asks: How do we live with change and loss? What does it mean to pay attention to the ordinary? How do we accept both joy and sorrow? Hirshfield's verse becomes a companion for mindful living—teaching attention to the present moment, acceptance of impermanence, reverence for the ordinary, and the conviction that life's sweetness and saltiness are inseparable gifts.

What You'll Discover
Contemporary poetry by Jane Hirshfield, Zen-influenced American poet
Poems on identity, aging, death, time, and impermanence
Meditations on ordinary objects and moments magnified into existence
Clear, luminous verse praised for quietly changing lives
Zen-influenced poetry finding the sacred in the everyday
Contemporary spiritual verse on mutability as life's central splendor

Jane Hirshfield is an award-winning poet, essayist, and translator whose work is known for its clarity, precision, and spiritual depth. She studied at Princeton and spent eight years in intensive Zen Buddhist practice, including three years of monastic training. Her poetry has been published in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and numerous other journals, and she has received fellowships from the Guggenheim and Rockefeller foundations. Her work bridges Eastern and Western traditions, bringing Zen attention and insight to contemporary American poetry. She is also a distinguished translator of ancient Japanese women poets and Chinese poetry.

Perfect for: Readers of contemporary spiritual poetry, students of Jane Hirshfield and Zen-influenced verse, contemplative readers exploring impermanence and attention, those interested in mindfulness and Buddhist-influenced poetry, anyone drawn to clear, luminous verse about ordinary life, readers of poetry about aging, death, and time, students of contemporary American poetry, admirers of verse that finds the sacred in the everyday and praises mutability as life's central splendor.

Paperback edition. Hirshfield's poetry on impermanence and attention—offering contemplative wisdom on accepting life's sweetness and saltiness through the clear, Zen-influenced voice of one of contemporary poetry's most celebrated spiritual writers.