Dustin Pickering presents a short poem whose “general spirit”—as the poet suggests—”can resonate across different subjects.” One of these, in the least, is the irremediable misery of those who do wrong to others.
Poet, writer and editor Dustin Pickering presents his poem “Ode to a Concrete Shoe Statue.”
Dustin Pickering reviews “Our Purpose in Speaking” (MSU Press, 2018), the debut book of poems by Emerson College’s senior writer-in-residence William Orem, who recently won the Wheelbarrow Books Poetry Award. Pickering consistently familiarizes readers with Orem’s poetry collection from a particular understanding that is in tune with the reviewer’s greater appreciation for poetry. In doing so, the reviewer situates Orem’s verses within a greater history of poetry inspired by an engagement with God, life, being, existence, nature and world from the optics of contemporary Christianity, and in particular Catholicism. For the greater readership, the review elucidates the relevance of such introspective and contemplative poetry with religious motifs and undertones as one that is equally innovative and in constant development, which is best exemplified by Pickering’s engagement with specific poems and with the collection as a whole.
Dustin Pickering brings us two poems inspired by his readings of Martin Heidegger’s classic work “Being and Time.” The poet has also provided a note to contextualize the two poems motivated by his philosophical engagement with Heidegger’s text. The result is a unique literary instance where philosophical inquiry and poetic engagement converge in verse.