The Astonishing Room

Brian Bartlett’s eighth collection of poems is one of the strongest in his long career. Those who love his poetry already will be happy to find Bartlett’s acute observations, wit and structural variety on full display. Readers new to his work will be won over by its wide-eyed awe, dazzling register shifts, and mesmerizingly affectionate voices. The poet addresses a dogwood tree, a flycatcher and a sixteenth-century pope, and speaks as father, son and citizen. The Astonishing Room can be thought of as a long conversation with mortality and death. Its longest poem, “Our Father in His Nineties,” gathers together moving close-ups of a man gracefully facing the end of life. Whether set by seashores or in forests, a lawyer’s office or an antique shop, Bartlett’s book surprises us with its capacity for facing hard truths, as well as for celebration and gratitude.