Fieldnotes on Ordinary Love

Wilson’s debut explores love, violence, isolation, and enduring uncertainty. Beneath ostensible happiness, the speaker exhumes ambivalence through stark honesty: “Loving is a misnomer, because you are expected// of your heart’s opinion on a sentence that is never completed,/ even as you’re having it.” He explores ineradicable heartbreak with surgical precision: “Inspiration/ is the deadliest radiation./ It never completely leaves the bones.” Wilson’s work is rich with dynamic musicality, which he masters through a staccato progression of images: “A half-life without you / in my dreams /// how i had you / caramelized black /// mold / at heart /// i hold / i know / i have / my lowest hum /// cyanide / my zeal / ethereal.” At times, however, the fragmentlike abstractions leave the reader without the guidance of a clear narrative: “All of space/ cannot be space. Arousing// patches in the grass. A mouse,/ I never said to you. Invasion of clover, black// pollen of your hair. Only yesterday/ I said I love. The opposite of stars.” Wilson’s collection is romantic yet world-weary, bereaved but fortified—a kindred reflection of the heart in the modern world. (May)