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.