Dennis's 10th book, the first since his 2004 New and Selected
, continues in the Pulitzer-winning poet's generous and thoughtful—though, perhaps overfamiliar—vein. Long sentences arranged into a loose, self-confident free verse of approximated pentameters celebrate the small-scale triumphs, ordinary disappointments and late-life reconciliations of the poet and the characters of his kindhearted America—"the neighbor who seems to be playing the same piece/ On her upright piano"; "Larry Fenster, owner of Fenster's Bike Repair"; "the straight-backed, white-haired woman/ Waiting for the bus in the rain." Of "Our Generation," Dennis asks and answers generalized yet heartfelt questions: "Did we work with joy? With no less joy/ Than people felt in the generations before us." The best poems take on subjects apart from his own life, each one able to set the poem apart—"A Visit to West Point," for example (in which this peace-loving poet considers the military profession), or the secular mass of Times Square on New Year's Eve. Dennis (Practical Gods
) has sought to make happiness—achieved or thwarted—as fertile, and as intellectually interesting, as rage, grief or frustration have been for other poets. (Apr.)
