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I think the takeaway with this tale is to never stop trying, to never give up. There’s no promise of something better, just the very human decision to will yourself forward. That if a better place is indeed out there, it can only be reached through effort, one step at a time.

A father and son trudge on through a profoundly desolate and lifeless world, vulnerable, barely surviving. Makes me think about the real world to come. Will it seem oddly familiar when it arrives?

Not only did I enjoy the prose in both of these stories, but having the original French on the left and the English translation on the right helped to teach me a smattering of French. I could go back and forth, line for line, paragraph for paragraph. I enjoyed the experience so much, I spent time identifying other dual language books to read. Definitely thumbs up.

Made up of mostly one and two-page essays on current or historical events written over a period of many years. The repetitive nature of these essays drives home the fact that the racism and violence against the Black community in America happens again and again and again. Abu-Jamal’s writing is engaging and informative. The longer form piece near the end makes me interested in reading more of his work.

I see much of this collection as an articulation of Gander’s journey through grief after the sudden loss of his wife, the brilliant poet C.D. Wright. His elevated vocabulary challenges my own (which I love) and his mix of spiritual, geological and mildly erotic subject matter is a lovely, mystical meditation on life, love and intimacy. The final section is a collaboration with the photographer Michael Flomen, a deep dive which is stunning but demanding of the reader. Well worth your time. The more you read these poems, the more secrets they reveal.