Flight Risk

'Throw it away throw it away': in Flight Risk C. E. J. Simons uses lyric forms to explore the shocks and joys of middle age: past relationships marriage childbirth fatherhood and the consequences of a life devoted to poetry. 'Uxor' and 'Prayer for My Son' show domestic bliss flourishing in a world that also contains the power relations of 'Haggard' and the sexual exploitation of 'The Liberties Kabukich?'. Half a dozen imit?ti?n?s from poets ranging from Wyatt to Yeats show Simons coming to grips with the origins of his own voice. The book concludes with 'Exclusion Zone' a stunning four-part poem on Simons's photojournalism work for the ten-year anniversary of the March 2011 T?hoku earthquake and tsunami.