Instructions at Sunset

Geraldine Connolly's Instructions at Sunset instructs us about why we love poetry-the sensuality evoked throughout by the warmth of the sun, the scent of underbrush, and the simmer of dinner on the stove-images gifted us so we also live these rare moments. And surprises, too, when Connolly's noticing transforms suddenly into meaning, and we draw a breath. Many poets rely on "the pain-of-the-past" for deep feelings, but this is a book about the present, the startling brilliant present, caught exactly as it happens, for the reader to know the splendor of living in the best possible air. -Grace Cavalieri, Maryland's tenth Poet Laureate