Small Wonders - Paperback

by James Keane (Author)

With brevity and musicality, the poems in Small Wonders make peace with the world. I recommend reading them through once and then rereading them often, as they act as a form of meditation. James Keane expresses his vulnerability and love in poems dedicated to his wife and son and also to inhabitants of the larger world, the victims of terrorist attacks, and to George Floyd. About a grandfather's company, he writes: "we managed our way / together down the long, slow streets / of your frailty. Then gradually, very / gradually, back the way we came." In other poems, he deftly observes the tension of a couple hiking to a waterfall: "we groped // until there was / nothing / to say, nothing / to do, but // listen / to the water." At seeing a child's coffin, he asks of the grieving mother: "Did you ever / know laughter, the respite / it can bring; smile with patience / at children, or anyone / imploring you to / sing." He ends the collection with a prayer for understanding, "through / all the beautiful shades / of our humanity / and the passion / we all share / for living." There is a reverence to these poems that presents them as "small wonders," but they resonate in very ample ways.