Hold Fast by Holly J. Hughes
Empty Bowl, 2020
Written over many decades, Hold Fast—the second full-length collection of poetry by Holly J. Hughes—offers clarity and guidance from a life not only well-lived, but well-attuned to the natural world. Whether gathering bittersweet into her mother’s station wagon, contemplating the moon and its phases from a monastery, or methodically making a peach pie, Hughes welcomes the reader into a layered world that invokes all the senses and demands personal reflection.
The poem “Holdfast” distills the central theme of this multifarious collection, which spans years and seasons, landscapes and ecosystems. She writes, “Hold fast to what sustains: our friends, / a steaming bowl of soup, this beach.” Hughes’s celebration of her northwestern coastal habitat, the “glint in the seal’s eye,” coupled with her profound appreciation for relationship make this book both instructive and engaging.
The five sections of this book are replete with affecting ecopoetics, but there is plenty of room for unexpected revelation. An early poem, “Untethered,” recalls a story that made national headlines—the heartbroken astronaut who drove 900 miles “to confront her love interest’s love interest.” Hughes concludes:
…if we squirm as we read this,
perhaps we suspect there’s an astronaut
inside of each of us that dreams of blasting off,of being that untethered, that lost in space.
In “Against Apocalypse” she asks, “Who knows what’s ahead: fast burn or slow freeze; / asteroids, black holes, exploding galaxies?” Throughout the book, Hughes offers the opportunity to see oneself in new and important ways without being too imposing or dogmatic. Hughes is gentle with her readers, but also not afraid to make a point.
Poetry, at its best, is formed as well as received in community. Many poets are conjured in this collection, from Denise Levertov to Ted Kooser. In “Walking the beach with poets,” Hughes reveals how poetry invades her solitude on a regular basis: “each morning at dawn, sandpipers skittering / before the waves, when along they come, / ready with their advice.” In “Adrift,” a poem written for Jack Gilbert after visiting him in a memory care facility, she recalls, “Nouns the first to go, even for this poet.” It is important to see, on the page, the circle of poets Hughes tends to and who continue to inspire and shape her work.
Despite having been released in early 2020, Hold Fast is in direct conversation with the present moment. Hughes celebrates the simplicities around her and reflects on the important connections in her life. Her poems are a blueprint for how to survive isolation and find new ways forward together.
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Jessica Gigot is a poet, farmer, and wellness coach. She lives on a small sheep farm in the Skagit Valley. Her second book of poems, Feeding Hour (Wandering Aengus Press, 2020), won a Nautilus Award and was a finalist for the 2021 Washington State Book Award. Jessica’s writing and reviews appear in several publications, such as Orion, Taproot, and Poetry Northwest, and she is currently a poetry editor for The Hopper. Her memoir, A Little Bit of Land, will be published by Oregon State University Press in 2022.