Hope is the hardest love we carry
Jane Hirschfield, poet, author of The Lives of the Heart
“This line from a Jane Hirschfield poem called ‘Hope is the Heart’ has been intensely on my mind for the last couple of weeks. I’ve been thinking about the planet in crisis and thinking how we keep hoping in the face of all that but also, much more specifically, one of my beloved wolfhounds is having health trouble while I’m out and about on this tour promoting my book. Every day I’ve had to steel myself about calling the vet at four o’clock to find out if the news is good or the news is bad. That poetic line from Jane’s poem that I read twenty-five years ago has followed me my whole life and has informed what I write. It has Informed the subtitle of my book but also has been informing me daily. Knowing I have to keep it together on this tour, knowing I’m going to call the vet and get good news or bad news. Thinking about hope as a gift we give the situation that we’re afraid of is about how to meet the fear with hope instead of something else less valuable. “
Pam Houston author of Deep Creek:
Finding Hope in the High Country
