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Storm Swimmer (Volume 30)
In poems celebrating survival and renewal, Ernest Hilbert summons the ageless conflict between human affection and the passing of time, recognizing that all we love must eventually disappear. Tender poems of fatherhood weigh against unsettling explorations of natural dangers and intimations of bodily harm. From porn sets to seedy gun ranges and heavy metal tribute nights in crumbling theaters, Hilbert’s eye roves over the desolation and beauty of contemporary America, all the while feeling the irresistible pull of water—what Melville called “the ungraspable phantom of life.” His poems return again and again to rivers, lakes, and the sea, there to find “a universe that loves the dark,” one that “bears you up as if you had no weight.”
90 pages, Paperback
Published February 28, 2023
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April 12, 2023
Love this book! Hilbert’s book begins with an epigraph from the Argonautica, which sets up the metaphor of the sea that underlies the book: heroes with long oars heading toward exciting adventures. But perhaps another ancient Greek quote—which Hilbert uses an an epigraph to the 7th and last section of the book—from Homer’s Odyssey, captures the vibe of the book even more:
"Thereon he floated about for two nights and two days in the water, with a heavy swell on the sea and death staring him in the face; but when the third day broke, the wind fell and there was a dead calm without so much as a breath of air stirring ..."
This sets the book, figuratively speaking, in the mythic water of ancient Greece. But this vibe— floating on a boat on a dead sea, with death staring you in the face—is one that actually describes our time very well.
Think of the struggle of swimming in a storm, finding the strength to survive. Or rowing a boat to a fantastic land 3000 years ago. Or being shipwrecked, like a body washed up from a schooner in an old lithograph. A liminal feeling, out of control and struggling to stay afloat. This is the psychic space that Hilbert occupies. It’s a metaphor to describe his body in 2023, and ours as well. It’s life itself, ours and his. "The great final dream of being let go / from a body that does not want me," he says.
My fav Hilbert book yet!
"Thereon he floated about for two nights and two days in the water, with a heavy swell on the sea and death staring him in the face; but when the third day broke, the wind fell and there was a dead calm without so much as a breath of air stirring ..."
This sets the book, figuratively speaking, in the mythic water of ancient Greece. But this vibe— floating on a boat on a dead sea, with death staring you in the face—is one that actually describes our time very well.
Think of the struggle of swimming in a storm, finding the strength to survive. Or rowing a boat to a fantastic land 3000 years ago. Or being shipwrecked, like a body washed up from a schooner in an old lithograph. A liminal feeling, out of control and struggling to stay afloat. This is the psychic space that Hilbert occupies. It’s a metaphor to describe his body in 2023, and ours as well. It’s life itself, ours and his. "The great final dream of being let go / from a body that does not want me," he says.
My fav Hilbert book yet!
Displaying 1 of 1 review