Meridian

Beginning with an exhortation as finely calibrated as clockwork—”dear reader I’m trapped/beating on the other/page’s side”—and proceeding in filigreed language that is at once sparse and lush, Raymond Gibson’s Meridian reads like a French detective novel translated by Sappho into sparking, barking and completely original English. Brimming with invention and intelligence, this is poetry that cuts to the bone and reaches the ether. “As a moth lays eggs on a flame I give these words” offers Raymond Gibson, and we should gratefully take them.

—Becka McKay