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Get Closer
Photographs and poems probe abandonment, generational incomprehension, and how memories, ordered imperfectly, still hurt.
In his latest collection, Ryan Van Winkle uses photographs to access themes of abandonment, generational incomprehension and the very notion of how we end up where we are. This collection is a poetic photo album.
Through these poems, Van Winkle looks at life througha lens – to get closer – to meditate on the anxieties and insecurities of a life. He reckons with how we remember and misremember, and how memories and people can be difficult, and at times painful, to hold on to. In reading this collection it becomes clear that while photographs can be carefully ordered, the emotions and impressions surrounding them cannot.Longlisted for The Saltire Awards 2026 Poetry Book of the Year.
In his latest collection, Ryan Van Winkle uses photographs to access themes of abandonment, generational incomprehension and the very notion of how we end up where we are. This collection is a poetic photo album.
Through these poems, Van Winkle looks at life througha lens – to get closer – to meditate on the anxieties and insecurities of a life. He reckons with how we remember and misremember, and how memories and people can be difficult, and at times painful, to hold on to. In reading this collection it becomes clear that while photographs can be carefully ordered, the emotions and impressions surrounding them cannot.Longlisted for The Saltire Awards 2026 Poetry Book of the Year.
112 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published May 28, 2026
About the author
Ryan Van Winkle
16 books16 followersRyan Van Winkle was born in New Haven, Connecticut. His debut collection, "Tomorrow,
We Will Live Here", was published by Salt in 2010. His second collection, "The Good Dark", won the Saltire Society’s 2015 Poetry Book of the Year award.
His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation and New Writing Scotland. He was awarded the Jessie Kesson fellowship at Moniack Mhor in 2018.
We Will Live Here", was published by Salt in 2010. His second collection, "The Good Dark", won the Saltire Society’s 2015 Poetry Book of the Year award.
His poems have appeared in The American Poetry Review, Modern Poetry in Translation and New Writing Scotland. He was awarded the Jessie Kesson fellowship at Moniack Mhor in 2018.
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
Review of advance copy
really beautiful, melancholy, rich work here… leaving the poem Mirror Selfie here:
No one in the hotel. No light
wandering with its clumsy shadow
up in the dusty lampshade.
That night the quiet doubled.
As if Silence was a mirror
facing another mirror.
No one in the hotel. No light
wandering with its clumsy shadow
up in the dusty lampshade.
That night the quiet doubled.
As if Silence was a mirror
facing another mirror.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review