Letters I Didn't Write

This is a contemplative collection of poems imbued with a sense of longing for opportunities lost and lives unfulfilled. Acclaimed poet John Mackenzie explores a sweeping range of subjects, from the tragedies of war to the musings of a discouraged physics major to the violent end of Spanish poet Federico Garcia Lorca. At the centre of MacKenzie's collection is a series of poems inspired by country singer Hank Williams, "an angel from Montgomery/who has written himself like a virus into music." Ultimately, MacKenzie's finest skill is his ability to transport readers to a greater context of human relationships, community, and our search for home and a sense of belonging. His questioning brings us all closer to "the fragments found scrawled/in the margins of silence, disaster, epiphany."