Books by Stephen Cushman

In his second collection of poems, Stephen Cushman explores, appraises, and celebrates many different forms of connections - domestic, social, historical, and religious. With an easygoing voice, an engaging humor, and a sure understanding of his craft, he illustrates the rewards of a sensitive regard for the junctions in everyday life and language.

The 'red list' of Stephen Cushman's new volume of poetry is the endangered species register, and the book begins and ends with the bald eagle, a bird that bounded back from the verge of extinction. The volume marks the inevitability of such changes, from danger to safety, from certainty to uncertainty, from joy to sadness and back again.

In this striking collection, scraps of the overlooked, and distasteful - a prostitute passed in the street, the speaker's own forgotten dreams, toothless dogs rolling in deer offal - become occasions to meditate on the rich experiences from which we too often turn away.