CUSSING LESSON

In his second collection of poems, Stephen Cushman explores, appraises, and celebrates many different forms of connections -- domestic, social, historical, and religious. With an easygoing voice, an engaging humor, and a sure understanding of his craft, he addresses subjects from marriage and travel to urbanism and the Civil War, illustrating the rewards of a sensitive regard for the junctions in everyday life and language.Invoking ",all the lessons they ever taught me / about ordination in the ordinary, ", he reflects on members of his family, affirming attachments of marriage and blood. Beyond those immediate ties lie the connections of history -- which take him to ancient Egypt, wartime Virginia, and Greece under Nazi occupation -- as well as the broader bonds of struggling to love neighbors and strangers