For Now, We Have Been Spared

Written during the
first three “Covid Years,” For Now, We Have Been Spared is a collection
of complex sequences and carefully constructed shorter poems that reflect the
uncertainty of living through a pandemic—not only in terms of the immediate
threats to the body, but also the tectonic shifts in how we perceive the nature
of existence itself.

The opening sequence—a
sustained, metaphorical meditation on the devastation caused by the multiple
deaths of a friend’s sons, sets a tone of elegiac reflection that runs
throughout the collection. Near tragedies are paired with simple joys; sickness
is mirrored by health; coming-of-age is followed by poems immersed in the
experience of aging.

These are poems that carry the weight of decades of observation and experience. Their subjects range
from the commonplaces of domestic life to the public realm of politics. What
binds all of them together is their grounding in sensory detail. Extended narrative
is present in nearly every poem. The subtle cadences of prose poetry also make
their presence felt. These poems are set in particular, recognizable places and
populated by everyday people who find themselves confronting trying
circumstances. Always, though, hovering at the edge of perception, there
remains the possibility of redemption and grace.