William Greenway's Everywhere at Once travels between muggy
recollections of a Southern Baptist childhood, meditations on the
otherworldly beauty of Wales, and commentary on life, death, and the
revelry in between. In lines taut with bluesy musical precision,
Greenway clearly demarcates the before and after, pivoting on his wife's
stroke and arduous recovery. This is our new umbilicus, / like those
childhood cans on a string, Greenway declares in Cells, a poem that
likens his beloved to a preemie, struggling back / from your ~fatal'
stroke / to be my wife again. For every witty turn of phrase, a punch
beyond the punch line stuns us with wisdom and transcendence. Whether we
are witnessing Feeding Time at the Fuel and Fuddle or The Path to
Iskeroon, the constant company of a wry conductor's voice guides and
provokes, paying tribute to the humble moments in life, and even the
world beyond / the reach of light and love and words.