John Witte's poetry sweeps the reader immediately into its
crosscurrents, its passionate engagement and its ambivalence. Composed
of staggered tercets, the poems in Second Nature track the chaotic
rush and swerve of life as we live it. Wide open to the world, Witte
writes with uncommon energy and urgency and his vision is exhilarating.
Second Nature teems with expertly realized lyrics, monologues, and
narratives, as well as poems based on historical figures from Ovid to
Janis Joplin. The metaphors for human endurance, and the transformative
power of art and community, are accurate and rich. Alert to the dangers
of love and loss, Witte finds his poems where sorrow and transcendence
converge. Like birds singing their "desperate psalm" in a clear-cut, his
poems bring us a rare kind of hope.