Convictions of the Heart

John Holgerson's, Convictions of the Heart leans in, to the muses of place and memory. Many of the poems, written in and (often) about time spent on the Greek Island of Hydra are infused with languor matched with a sensual aliveness. Holgerson is at his best when gathering the fine details of the senses into scenes that make us want to sit in a certain taverna beneath an arbor or traverse a particular solitary path where we may stumble on the ghost of Leonard Cohen. Other poems reach across decades, reminding us that "then and now are] married forever/strong and fragile as the/small and resolute red apple stem." Auguries come from odd places-wistfulness is allowed-some loves last.

MIRIAM O'NEAL, author of The Body Dialogues