In his seventeenth collection of poetry, Pulitzer Prize winner Stephen
Dunn confronts the lines we fight against and the ones we draw for
ourselves. Lines of Defense poignantly captures the absurdities of
modern life, expectations derailed, the lived life juxtaposed to the
imagined life, and the defenses we don to make do. The poems in Lines
of Defense are wry and elegiac, precisely observed and wide-reaching.
As with the best of Dunn's work, they take stock of the quotidian
aspects of life, of the essential comedy of getting through the day:
finding a lost cat; not being invited to a party; taking a granddaughter
to a carnival. The lines of defense are the lines of the verse itself,
as poetry forms a stronghold against mortality. This essential volume
showcases a poet writing at the height of his powers.
From "Before We Leave"
Where are we going?
It's not an issue of here or there.
And if you ever feel you can't
take another step, imagine
how you might feel to arrive,
if not wiser, a little more aware
how to inhabit the middle ground
between misery and joy.