William Reichard
Description
"At the close of his title poem, William Reichard declares that he will "let silence speak in my stead" - which in this case mean giving voice to the
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silent dead (such as those lost in two politicized pandemics), or stepping aside for others to be heard, like his "American Saints" mostly martyrs to homophobia, or his heart taking the form of birds. He derives his themes of evening and silence from the Austrian poet Georg Trakl, and this collection includes a cycle of "mistranslations" in dialog with Trakl's verse. In some respects less personal than Reichard's previous collections ("I was not going to say anything / about love" - but of course he does, being "stupid in love"), it nevertheless is infused with hope of being "sustained / by love," opening with possibility, and offering these lines in remembrance of another poet, Jonathan Williams: "history is made of old men, / fragile, human, full of flaws and wonder and lust, / before time's half-truths transforms them, and they / turn into the impossibly perfect heroes we praise.""--
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