On Jupiter Place: Poems, Christopher Nicholas

On Jupiter Place is his first book since that collection, and it contains material that is perhaps his most personal, autobiographical and intimate work yet. Beautifully made and carefully constructed, one might be reminded of Keats thinking that his poems were little machines of feeling. And everywhere in this book are moments of disorientation, where the wonder of the poem transcends understanding and leads its readers back into themselves slightly startled and richer for the effort. As Merwin has written, his poems are vibrant with light and the surprise of recognition. He shows us again and again the luminous nature of the familiar.