The deeply considered and passionately felt life revealed in Victor Altshul's Ode to My Autumn makes the book hard to put down.
Whether taking on the perspective of a ruminative blue heron, exploring the tragedy of a brother's mental illness, or coming to terms with one of the many writers, artists, and musicians who serve as co-conspirators in his art-making, Altshul tracks his thought and emotion with an intensity and clarity that draw us in.
The success of these poems is due in no small measure to Altshul's adept control of his craft.
This is a poet equally at home in free and formal verse (his villanelle is superb ), and the music of the poems is consistently convincing.
Altshul's voice has similar range, moving from tender compassion to incisive political commentary to rueful self-awareness; every key is played here.
And, yes, Altshul is capable of being scintillatingly funny in his poems, a rare feat.
Whether in a comic or lyrical mode, Victor Altshul clearly, poignantly, and with great wisdom considers John Keats' question Where are the songs of Spring? And he answers that question with a collection of poems that blesses the reader with pure accessibility, the joy of splendidly made and welcomed connections, and enormous insight.
He brings to mind Dylan Thomas' Fern Hill by reminding us that there was a time when we were all young and easy, and by himself singing in his chains like the sea.
One is reminded too of Robert Frost's Birches - Victor Altshul shares with Frost the thought that Earth's the right place for love.
Ode to My Autumn is a lovely and powerful collection.
Open it, enjoy it, and as the author writes, let unbidden dreams excite your mind.
Antrim House Ode to my autumn: and other poems, paperback/victor a. altshul
