The Widower Considers Candles, Robert Lavett Smith’s third full-length collection, is his most varied so far-formal sonnets interspersed among free verse poems. Familiar themes are present in abundance: grief, loss, and the daily coming to terms with an increasingly complex and often disheartening existence. But humor is evident, too. Now in his later fifties, Smith continues to grow and develop, and remains unafraid to venture into previously uncharted territory. The result is a book that is both challenging and rewarding. Sometimes grim but often joyous, consistently well-crafted, The Widower Considers Candles is both thoughtful and humane, ultimately celebrating the quiet, everyday perseverance of the human spirit.