A Hole in the Sun

The poems in A Hole in the Sun, Steve Tyler's first collection, are gathered across a lifetime of writing. They capture crucial moments of boy, youth and man, and what was lost along the way in language as sure as it is spare. Readers of poetry weary of cleverness and ironic detachment will find none of that here. Abstractions are few and concrete specifics are many. The poems undertake emotions elemental and raw, with grief and beauty the poles around which the words turn. They have the feel of Lorca's duende, something to do with soul and the chills a song can send down a spine. The central question the book raises goes to the sufficiency of emotion in the face of suffering. The poems themselves, in their creation and quality, answer yes. Line by line, image after powerful image, these lyric poems present a heartbreaking defense of the felt life.