Tuesday, August 27, 2024

Poets and Poems: Joshua Hren and “Last Things, First Things, and Other Lost Causes”


Sometimes you don’t need a flood of news or events or ideas to remind you that bad things exist in this world. Sometimes just a few drops will do. 
 

The chapbook Last Things, First Things, and Other Lost Causes by Joshua Hren is short, including only 26 poems. And I have to say that when I started reading the collection, I didn’t know what I was getting into. I should have paid closer attention to the title. But I had read his short story collection, In the Wine Press, dark stories, to be sure, but well written and each offering some hope. 

 

The poems in the chapbook smacked me upside the head. The words that come to mind include disquieting, disturbing, and troubling. The poems are about the state of the culture, the state of the world, and the state of the individual. It’s a small collection about the need for humanity’s redemption. 

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

Some Tuesday Readings

New Verse Review – the first edition of a new poetry journal.

 

The Tyger – poem by William Blake at Rabbit Room Poetry.

 

The Golden Ages of English Literature – Joseph Pearce at The Imaginative Conservative.

 

Poetry Prompt: My Poem is an Oasis – L.L. Barkat at Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

“To an Athlete Dying Young,” poem by A.E. Housman – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

Pure Absence – poem by David Whyte.

No comments:

Post a Comment