Northern Swim

The poems in Northern Swim grieve a beloved sister’s death during other losses of the pandemic, framed against havoc in the human and more-than-human worlds. But among poems of American malaise and climate change you’ll also find Florence Griswold, godmother of American impressionists; the fashion designer Alexander McQueen; Eve’s secret daughter; Elgar’s chamber music and the Do Rights lead guitar. Though the poems are often elegiac they celebrate pleasures-＂Snowshoeing at Seventy,＂ a newborn grandson, museum-going, desserts with family and friends, an exhilarating swim in an icy lake-what offers resilience and lures us ahead: ＂I won’t let the bear get all the berries.＂