The Very Rich Hours

In The Very Rich Hours, Gregory Loselle recounts experiences, in childhood and later, in and around his grandparents’ house on Grosse Ile, Michigan, an island in the Detroit River near the mouth of Lake Erie. Loselle’s mastery of various poetic forms parallels the way in which memory is a formal reconstruction of events. Throughout the collection, readers will enjoy triolets and rondeaux, as well as a ballade, sonnet, ghazal, villanelle, sestina and even an Anglo-Saxon caesura, all beautifully executed to bring these cherished stories to life. Take a walk down memory lane and open the door to a houseful of stories, from watching Grandpa shave to sifting through a crateful of old photographs that "call us to forgotten places" and remind us "what we were and meant to do" in the very rich hours of our lives. EARLY PRAISE: With a haunting and contemplative voice, Loselle employs rhythm, word-play, and richness of language line after line. Through rhyme, narrative constructs, and repetition, he crafts poems that are admirably controlled and precise, and reminds us that what William Carlos Williams writes is true: "A poem is a... machine made out of words." Loselle’s beautifully spun poems continue to reverberate long after the last light’s been switched off. — Janée J. Baugher, author of The Body’s Physics and Coördinates of Yes Gregory Loselle’s poems offer memory illuminated by a remarkable astuteness and strong craft. In his hand, the quotidian becomes extraordinary, uncommon, and wonderful. The poet investigates with an unrelenting intelligence and an astonishing clarity. —James Najarian, author of The Goat Songs