October is here, and we couldn’t be further from National Poetry Month. At this point, April is but a speck on the distant horizon, we’ve lost radio contact, and even the most steadfastly optimistic are starting to worry she’ll never return. But take heart, dear reader. April may be far away, but poetry never left. It lives here year round, and to celebrate this happy fact, we’re unveiling Poetry 365. Each non-April month, this new Off the Shelf feature will highlight a contemporary poet’s most recent work as both prelude and encore to the big poetry party in the spring. We kick things off with Griffin Poetry Prize finalist Matthew Rohrer’s collection Destroyer and Preserver. Tender, organic, and unnervingly humorous, Rohrer’s latest “illuminates the modern plight: trying to figure out how to be a thoughtful citizen, parent, and person as the landscape of terror and history worms its way into our everyday existence.” Check it out, sample a poem below, and make sure to stop back for Poetry 365.
Poem for Starlings
there’s an armed guardRussell J. (Reader’s Services)
