At Fernald School by David Kann

Revisiting the terrible history of institutions, evoking an infinitely kinder but no less baffling present, At Fernald School offers us a powerful double take on autism.  So vivid and wrenching are these poems that as readers we find ourselves behind that rippled, reinforced glass, on the inside, peering out.

–Jody Gladding

At Fernald School gives us a glimpse into that school’s dark history. But David Kann doesn’t stop there. He pairs poems of lament for the unspeakable treatment of the vulnerable with poems that give us a tender focus on how children can be cherished and flourish. Like mirror images, lament and love address each other, as Kann enacts in these poems the fluid reciprocity in which caring for his grandson means, “as we mold him, he creates us.” And against our ill-formed violent agendas he offers up the “heavenly sympathy” of honest souls who have not learned their caregivers’ duplicity. These are urgent and necessary poems, reminders of our capacity for both damage and healing, depending on whether we are willing to recognize the absolute value of the other.

–Betsy Sholl