Interrupt the Sky

In John Hazard’s collection of poems, Interrupt the Sky, the title comes from a line in “Hills,” in which the speaker imagines an Ohio River landscape, with hills that

send their chatter out

to interrupt the sky,

which has been too vast, too long.

The hills have had about enough.

Attending to detail and gesture, these poems present humans and other modest creatures set against larger forces, usually in nature. With varying degrees of hope and affection, Hazard is pulling for the small and the vulnerable to interrupt the sky, to declare themselves in one way or another. The book’s three parts are titled “Small,” “Beautiful Clowns,” and “Home Before Dark.” In each section, the poems move from darkness toward cautious affirmation. The light comes at angles, muted by realism and shadow, but it seems right there, on the horizon, if we look hard.