Stupid Hope

The final collection by the late Jason Shinder, "one of the finest of our new poets" (Gerald Stern) I close my eyes and try to remember

when I was unopposed, when I started to die,

buoyant, fragrant, shuddering with love.

--from "Before" Jason Shinder's last poems are his moving testimonies to poetry, love, and friendship. With power, clarity, and disarming humor, the poems confront grief and mortality with a humility and fortitude that come only "with hope, stupid hope." Stupid Hope is Shinder's wry, penetrating, and wise farewell.