BEFORE WE FORGET by Gregg Weatherby

The powerful insistence of the title of Gregg Weatherby’s Before We Forget, resonates behind every poem in this superb collection. As he deftly navigates the tightrope between past and present, sacred and profane, “the strange juxtaposition of holy ground and Wolf Road,” we come to appreciate the undulating, enigmatic movement of our lives on this earth. This is not simply a good collection of poetry, it is a lifeline.

–Steve Lewis, author of The Lights Around the Shore

In this beautifully crafted and hauntingly lyrical new book by Gregg Weatherby, he once again demonstrates his mastery of the art of poetry. In each of his poems, whether he is reminiscing on nights in McSorley’s, lamenting the loss of one third of the population of birds, lost youth, or the isolation brought about by Covid, he creates vivid pictures of the visible and invisible world around him. He writes, “there are notes that we cannot hear / there are notes that we cannot sing.” And then he sings those notes for us so we hear, and beyond that we hear the silence he leaves lingering like Steven’s “The blackbird whistling/ Or just after.” Gregg Weatherby is one of the best poets writing today and should be recognized as such. This book will help.

–Frank Murphy, poet and Chief Editor of Home Planet News Online