A Treatise on Stars
By Mei-mei Berssenbrugge ’73SOA
Like her previous twelve collections, Mei-mei Berssenbrugge’s A Treatise on Stars — a finalist for the National Book Award — is a deep meditation on the natural world. As the title suggests, this time she focuses on the cosmos, seeking connections between society and celestial bodies above.
Between Lakes
By Jeffrey Harrison ’80CC
Many of the poems in Jeffrey Harrison’s sixth collection grapple with his father’s death and the unique grief and introspection that come after losing a parent. In “Higher Education,” also included in a volume of the Best American Poetry series, Harrison recalls choosing to attend Columbia against his father’s wishes. At Columbia, Harrison studied the Beat poets and the core values of Western civilization. “I can’t remember,” he writes now, thinking of his father, “is forgiveness one of them?”
Blizzard
By Henri Cole ’82SOA
Henri Cole is known for sonnets that focus on a single moment, encounter, or experience — distilling it into perfect lyrical sound bites. In Cole’s tenth collection, he turns the quotidian acts of peeling a potato and swatting away an unwelcome bee into profound observations about daily life.
