Fleet River

A sequel of sorts to his first book of poetry, James Longenbach's new collection is about wonder: falling in love with the world, as though for the first time. With crisp phrasing and tightly controlled abstraction, "Fleet River" traces the journey of two children, two lovers and two travellers through landscapes earthly and otherworldly, following the river as it turns, dips underground, then reemerges unexpectedly as they experience awe at the workings of the universe. Mimicking the river's shifting course, the poems revise themselves as the book moves forward, turning against their own best conclusions, proving that the pilgrims' journey is less the discovery of love than the recreation, poem by poem, of love's possibilities.