Poets and Poems: Mischa Willett and “Phases”

In his new collection Phases, poet Mischa Willett reaches back to the distant past of classical antiquity and the recent past of old girlfriends and a father recovering from heart surgery, to paintings

and sculpture, to a young child asking about the inequality of large and small cars. And while that sounds like a diverse array of subjects and inspirations, Willett ties these 60 poems together with a few deep, resounding themes and perspectives.

A glance at the table of contents reveals one of those perspectives – the geography of the collection. Willett has structured the poems into nine sections – oceans, lands, seas, and an island. This geography is specific: “Ocean of Storms,” “Sea Has Become Known,” “Land of Heat,” and so on. We navigate this geography, and it is sometimes calm and reflective, and sometimes stormy and disruptive.

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.