In Search of Solitude: New and Selected Poems

In his latest volume of poetry, In Search of Solitude, Henry Langhorne once again offers his readers what they have grown to expect. Under intriguing titles such as Life Is Such a Small Place,
Her Preserves, and The Sixty-Year-Old Kiss, he provides one lyrical line after another that provokes thought; elicits emotions of love, fear, regret, and thanksgiving; and offers more than an occasional surprise for the heart and mind.

Known for his doctor poems and for his melancholy perspective on life’s events, Henry Langhorne continues both themes in this new book, sometimes in the same poem. An example is the last stanza of 4 West at the End of the Hall, a poem about a doctor who spends a few last minutes with a patient:

It all took place on 4 West

at the end of the hall.

I would sit, holding a hand

slowly cooling. That was all.