Shades & Graces

In Shades & Graces, Salcman tells us early on that “Every intern knows it doesn’t matter how long an incision is, just how wide,” and in this accurate and marvelous detail provides a metaphor for the way a surgeon’s suturing provides a signature, “closed but open like a grave,” that “even God can’t erase.” In poem after poem, Salcman’s signature—the stitched lines of his verse—are characterized by verve, clarity, and formal finesse, and as such they attempt to heal the various and vexing wounds of experience.

   —Michael Collier, former poet laureate of Maryland, director of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, Professor of English at the University of Maryland and author of “My Bishop and Other Poems.”