Local Talent

In Local Talent, David Wright deepens his poetic engagement with the physical and spiritual terrain of the Midwest. Even when his poems travel far away to Vermont or Italy, Wright’s imagination, diction, and poetic eye have been indelibly shaped by the Heartland (its people, communities, fields, roadscapes) through seasons that require “all our talent / to keep our candles and cigarettes lit in the Illinois wind.” Formally, the poems range from pantoums and sestinas to elliptical free verse and prose poems. Often sensuous and lyric in nature, Wright’s poetry also narrates, converses with other poets, and borrows from musical, artistic, and religious traditions that both vex and soothe. Whether we grieve and mourn our losses, or celebrate fleeting moments of connection to others, this collection offers an honest and imperfect vision of discerning how our varied talents (making art, cultivating community, caring for our bodies, recovering intimacy) root and sustain us in whatever landscape we inhabit if we can “stand, bare-eyed and loving this place” as we struggle to embrace “a nearly open-ended sky.”