INFLORESCENCE

by Matthew Schultz, Alien Buddha (Contributor)

"These are poems of movement, reminding us that even our perceived groundedness is actually a state of constant unsettledness. Schultz's terrific book maneuvers through natural landscapes and neighborhoods, taking roads through the mountains and water through the trees; pulling the reader through poems like “a ribbon eel moving / among deciduous-looking corrals” or the otter drifting through Poughkeepsie. When we catch a glimpse of settling into the moment, Schultz reminds us that each point in time is a river of constant movement, that even the quiet moments are composed of “time-travelers/boring into the archive / of backyard memories.” These are poems that understand our desire to be present in the moment, with all its composite joy and loss, its yellow-bellied sapsuckers and barking dogs. Yet Schultz fully recognizes that our understanding of each point in time is painfully and wonderfully informed by both memory and expectation. Each moment may be ephemeral, but through Schultz’s rapt attention, they meander down the languid waterways, meeting us again in the most unexpected of places." –– Samantha DeFlitch, author of Confluence

61 pages, Paperback

Published January 29, 2022