Review: A Book of Poems in a Poem

restful, pleasant present tense
as if you have nothing to do on a summer

afternoon but read about the sparing everyday
that makes the unrecognized life.

deceptively simple, cyclical Louise
no artifice, reliable Louise. subtle

observing, journaling, searches
for Louise. existential. that means little

hope or hope lost. now a blueberry (p.18) metaphor
and you know this is what you came

for. When she talks of herself, not the other
"One night in summer my mother

decided it was time to tell me about
what she referred to as pleasure . . . "

(p. 21) only then do I love Louise,
keep searching for hope, the secret

so clandestine I can't hear
it in her voice. maybe that's her point

or just plain the best she can face
coming to terms. it's easier from afar.