Tired

It is refreshing these days of spreading capitalism and colorless urban life to read lines of poetry that insist on ‘summer music’ of talking about trees, with attentiveness and affection. His feeling toward the natural world is genuine–but hardly naive. Looking at the branches he also looks ‘in the dark, in mind.’ ‘I notice the glow of the light-green, ’ this poet says. There is a dash of Dylan Thomas in this lyric, and much of Strous’s own wisdom in lines such as ‘Carpentry of these trees–/they are so simple.’ But readers will quickly realize that on the page such simplicity is only seeming. It looks simple because a great deal of work was put into the words–Ilya Kaminsky.