A Child of Storm

Wilson’s debut, an amalgamation of biography, personal musing, and an obsession with electricity, constructs distinctive—and informative—narratives that revolve around the life of Serbian-American inventor Nikola Tesla. As he teases out facets of electrical history, Wilson broadens his focus to include Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday, and other inventors, as well as their inventions. The poems’ titles intimate the directions of the work: “Tesla and Edison Argue,” “William Kemmler & the Electric Chair,” “Faraday Cage.” Wilson gives shape and feeling to their lives, as when he writes in Tesla’s voice, “I will build a city of light/ capture the sun/ drive my fists into the ground until I split the earth in two.” This theme of light—and its iterations of lightning and electrical current—forms a brilliant and subtle thread linking many of the poems. Similarly, Wilson uses the past to tether his own story to something bigger. While on Houston Street in New York City, he remembers, “Tesla left for the west after this city beat him down.” But when Wilson strays from his history lessons in the more personal poems, his lines lose some of their heft and definition. In the history of the electric, Wilson’s work shines. (Oct.)