Invictus

Invictus: poems of late and earlier is a major collection by a poet whom age has not defeated. On the contrary, Rodney Nelson has been writing more than ever in his own inimitable manner, which allows for as much silence on the printed page as he finds in grove and field, mountain and shore, his lifelong haunts. Invictus begins with recent poems, and the 2012 section is an account of loss and grief. The 2010 part recollects his time on the West Coast; in 2008 are variations on a light "metacowboy" theme. "Poetry should avoid the style and content of expository prose," Nelson asserts. His own does. There is music in it.