“Come Thunder is Barbara Helfgott Hyett’s most intimate collection, and her most daring. These poems speak of and from the lost world—the world of childhood, first, and later, the world of a mind changed by disease. They charm us with, as Helfgott Hyett might say, Barbara Bravado—but make no mistake: these poems fight for their lives. The first section is a cinematic vision of girlhood—tap shoes and skate keys, boardwalk taffy and fire eaters—bright in the way only childhood memory is bright. In the second half of the book, adult speakers face profound collective and individual griefs; but even sorrows are revealed in gorgeous displays of “ordinary riches,” made more brilliant because these riches are partial and passing. Here, truths aren’t sugar-coated. Revelations, if they happen at all, aren’t easy or accidental: the poem must make them. (“Believe in the hard, says the hard.” “Tell yourself what to do, and do it.”) This poet’s last lesson is not about transcendence—though there is plenty for the reader—it is about hard work. This is the lesson of all lessons, the lesson of greatest hope, of which Helfgott Hyett’s life and writing is proof. Because where there is work, there is agency. Where there is work, there is possibility. Where there is work, there is fellowship. Because of Barbara Helfgott Hyett, we are “joined around the table, all together, all alone.”
—Brittany Perham, author of Double Portrait
Critical Acclaim for Come Thunder
"Wittgenstein averred that "courage is always original", and the poems gathered in Come Thunder, displaying a purgatorial valor in every perfected phrase and imaged instance, prove him right. Each instant of an authentic life, from childhood forward, summons valor to the fore. But Barbara Helfgott Hyett is a poet of rewards and not remorse. Time and again, her courage wins through to serenity, as in the unforgettable "The Cat, Beauty" whose perfections reach beyond time. Come Thunder will prove to be a flawless companion for the times ahead."
––Donald Revell
“Come Thunder is Barbara Helfgott Hyett’s most intimate collection, and her most daring. These poems speak of and from the lost world—the world of childhood, first, and later, the world of a mind changed by disease. They charm us with, as Helfgott Hyett might say, Barbara Bravado—but make no mistake: these poems fight for their lives. The first section is a cinematic vision of girlhood—tap shoes and skate keys, boardwalk taffy and fire eaters—bright in the way only childhood memory is bright. In the second half of the book, adult speakers face profound collective and individual griefs; but even sorrows are revealed in gorgeous displays of “ordinary riches,” made more brilliant because these riches are partial and passing. Here, truths aren’t sugar-coated. Revelations, if they happen at all, aren’t easy or accidental: the poem must make them. (“Believe in the hard, says the hard.” “Tell yourself what to do, and do it.”) This poet’s last lesson is not about transcendence—though there is plenty for the reader—it is about hard work. This is the lesson of all lessons, the lesson of greatest hope, of which Helfgott Hyett’s life and writing is proof. Because where there is work, there is agency. Where there is work, there is possibility. Where there is work, there is fellowship. Because of Barbara Helfgott Hyett, we are “joined around the table, all together, all alone.”
—Brittany Perham, author of Double Portrait
"There is a deceptive simplicity to the opening poems of Come Thunder..But what lies beneath each recollection is a challenging response to the casual violence of childhood. In the end, the author invites us to consider the callousness of beauty. This is a collection that deepens as you unravel each well-wrought line."
—Kyle McCord, Author of Reunion of the Good Weather Suicide Cult
“The voice in these remarkable poems displays the assurance of a poet who has perfected her art. This authority carries throughout all three sections of the book: from the first section, scenes from childhood written with the authenticity of a child’s point of view, that is without sentimentality or rationalization; through “Transparency,” poems of almost prayerful wonder at the natural world; culminating in “Proof of the Spinning World” which synthesizes personal, natural, and political concerns. These poems forgo the ornamental to give us startling line after line, truth after truth. The poet risks all: “Who will love me now that I/have shown how brave I am?” the poet asks in “To Be a Sloth” and tells us in another poem that to be happy you must “Make life up/then force your eyes to see it.” In this stunning collection, Helfgott Hyett teaches us to see the world without mercy but with love.”
—Kathleen Aguero, author of World Happiness Index
“The child we meet in the very first poem of Come Thunder, "Light Keeper's Daughter," the innocent on the cusp of ecstasy and grief, becomes the soul of this poet who bears witness to love and its wonders, to joy and forbearance, to atrocity and betrayal, throughout this continually astonishing book. The depth of the knowing in these poems is holy. Do not read this book unless you want to better understand your life.”
—Richard Hoffman, author of Noon until Night
The Cat, Beauty
She swats at her little snowman—his mouth is gone,
and most, but not all of the catnip inside: perfume
of primal attachment. It takes little for her to be
happy—
the front door opening, the threshold
shining—lick of a paw, other paws
saved for the carpet’s luxury.
Nights she ambles to make sense of the day.
When I bathe, she comes to test the edge.
And why not? If I sigh before sleep, she jumps up
to the pillow beside me,
breathes me, lets her tail
touch my animal hair. Outside, the cold proceeding,
night longing, the leaves falling and the leaves
partaking, each one with its own true sound.