A generous, witty guide for readers and writers alike that opens personal pathways to great poets.
A blend of literary criticism and original work that traces an author’s dialogue with the poems that inspire him.
Luchs opens by explaining that he was first drawn to poetry by a “fascination with its music, its magic, its mystery and its power to move me emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.” As the author notes, the essays collected here are “not academic treatises” but personal reflections written to encourage “increas[ed] understanding and enjoyment.” He begins with Wallace Stevens’ “Of Mere Being,” analyzing the poem and then including one of his own as a reaction. This structure—part essay, part creative echo—sets the form for the rest of the collection, forming an ongoing dialectic between reading and writing. Luchs unpacks his selections’ language, rhythms, and historical contexts before distilling his reactions into verse. The result is a dialogue between criticism and creation in which reading becomes a catalyst for writing. The author moves through a wide range of poets and eras, using the same framework to explore the meaning of each writer’s work. He discusses Philip Larkin’s “Annus Mirabilis” in the context of the 1960s cultural shifts that surrounded it and turns to D. H. Lawrence with an eye on psychological and emotional texture. Nobel laureate Wislawa Szymborska, whom Luchs calls “highly improbable,” receives both biographical attention and effective, succinct interpretation: “She’s telling us who she is here, and by implication asking us who we are.” The author broadens his scope to include poets from varied traditions and backgrounds, such as Chilean author Gabriela Mistral and Black poet Lucille Clifton, noting the importance of engaging with different perspectives. Other essays focus on Jorge Luis Borges, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Lewis Carroll (whose “Jabberwocky” Luchs traces through its many cultural impacts). The work closes by reaching back to Homer before rounding out the tour with more contemporary poets, including Charles Simic and James Tate.
Luchs writes with a tone that is both pedagogical and inviting, balancing humility with the learned wit of a scholar. The author’s enthusiasm for the poets he discusses recalls a warm teacher eager to share an infectious passion for the subject. He offers concise, confident introductions, swiftly capturing each poet’s defining traits; of Robinson Jeffers, Luchs identifies the Greeks and the King James Bible as the poet’s “lifelong companions.” The author often leans into a slightly stuffy, bookish sense of humor, but his timing keeps it playful—he writes of David Ignatow, “And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you talk to your daughter about death, yours and hers and everyone’s.” A refreshing self-awareness grounds the work, as Luchs mentions his own struggles with fiction: “Anyway, don’t hold your breath,” he jokes, making him approachable and relatable. His criticism is similarly accessible, best suited to readers and writers seeking to deepen their appreciation of great poets; those desiring more rigorous academic analysis may find his readings somewhat surface level. Still, anyone who has tried to emulate the greats will find something deeply resonant in the author’s own creations: “The sweet amnesia of snow and cold is no less merciful / than that of the poem never written, never published, / or perhaps, published and quickly lost among so many others.”
A generous, witty guide for readers and writers alike that opens personal pathways to great poets.Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9781963846478
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Sagging Meniscus Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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