To His Son

How better to celebrate a young life than through words of love and longing and glints of hope? This collection by Yale Younger Poet T. Crunk pushes aside the waste of this world, holding open a bright door to limitless possibilities. In “Daybreak,” the simple rhythm gives us that child’s gaze, the curious wonder of insects who go about their business oblivious to Wall Street and Walmart. The centerpiece of the collection, “To His Son,” a long poem of hopefulness, surveys the Universe through the wise father’s eyes, bestowing on his son the blessings of nature and an attention to “duty” and “joy.” With encouragement and enchantment, the son will one day ride his “bicycle / to the sun,” leaving the nest with his father’s words ringing, “love your life / and be grateful.” The poem ends with a haunting vision of life without mother and father, and the enjoining of lasting knowledge that “this world / will never // never / be enough.” But not to fret, as in the final song of “Joyland,” innocence re-emerges with wonder at what lies beyond this circus of life, with all its tricks and amazements.