Radiant Companion

In this companion piece to his sixth book, Radiant Action, Hart further explores the position of art in daily life, and its ability to transform us and our surroundings and provide comfort, connection, and insight. Through poems that are more formal than those in Action, Hart dwells in a world where Whitman can be an effective antidote to violent horrors and the contents of a grocery list are fodder for a reflection on linguistics. Hart urges his readers “to bewilder and to be wilder.” “You have to keep it up—the dailiness// and simplicity, the astonishment and love,” he writes while embracing “the discomfort/ of being anew, aghast, and aglow.” It is all in keeping with his signature “ferocious wonder” laid out in odes to black coffee, his daughter’s prattle, and a caterpillar named Laundry. Both books feature charmingly academic analyses of punk songs; here, Hart describes Jawbreaker’s “Chesterfield King” as “a punk rock conversation/ poem in the romantic/ tradition.” But this volume shows Hart’s doubts, the cracks in his artistic armor, and the possibility that redemption is “an idiot’s pipe dream.” Hart’s pleas and prescripts for a better world may be romantic, but he sees the bigger picture: “Who has time/ for poetry has more time than they deserve.” (Sept.)