From celestial eclipses to the phases of a love affair always and inevitably ending in darkness, Kosek’s American Eclipse is an occluded landscape where wildlife collides with humanity, the country’s politics is as out of balance as the climate and the ecosystem is losing its rhythms. Amidst the real and metaphorical darkness, the poet seeks the visceral experience of watching the sun consumed: “Everyone,/apparently, … packing their bags for the path of totality—”

Despite, or perhaps because of, this shadowy landscape, the poems stand out for their vibrancy and texture: “the soft dark flanks of mountains,” “autumn so perfect/it might go up in flames,” “Juniper berries popping on lush/ green grass,” and “the eyes of a bird,/ retinas pooling with oil.” Kosek’s poems succeed at combining beauty and waste, celebrating the world’s lushness and simultaneously knowing the part we play in its devastation. These poems mark the seasons of nature and out-of-season anomalies. In recording the small, recognizable moments, they act as a center of gravity to an off-kilter existence. American Eclipse takes us well past anything as simple as hope; like birdsong in the dark, “The last white sliver stuck. No one knows what happens next.” — Sarah Sousa