The Nameless by Jed Myers

The Nameless, by Jed Myers. This is not a coy, “where is the title poem?” collection. “The Nameless” greets us as we open the book. The portraits of people here are informed by the poet’s personal history– “does she, or he, also wish/ for just the kind of touch we’ve also missed/ since that bewildering day….” How telling is that “also”! These poems seize the moment (and what is a day but a procession of moments?) with domestic ferocity– like a dog seizing a bone. I will never get on an elevator again without thinking of the dead—“so many, now that we notice!/ More of them than us.” Myers’ gift with language is extraordinary, whether delivered to us in a phrase, “the elsewhere inside you” or a line, as when he remarks of a couple at an airport—“how, now, with their bodies/ they promised each other more/ eternity than either could ever/ deliver, but were, in that silent/ utterly mutual oath, telling/ one another the truth.” These are the poems of a man whose compassion never wavers or becomes blurry with sentiment. His love for people is both generous and accurate.

Rating: ***** [5 of 5 Stars!]