Eye Against Eye
Reviewed for American Poet
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Forrest Gander is at his best writing serial poems, the form around which Eye Against Eye, his sixth collection, is built. Among the longer series of poems in the book are Late Summer Entry, ten photographs by Sally Mann with poetic commentaries; the searing Ligature, which is interspersed throughout the book; and Present Tense:
In an epoch dominated by stars some speak softly into wafer phones
some milk caged bears for bile
for some the silhouette of a thronged city
flickers beneath a flickering sky
These poems build their narrative slowly over each series, while the short sections provide room for Gander's lexical dexterity. Eye Against Eye is a book of daring and maturity, both adventurous and intimate.