The poems in Until the Full Moon Has Its Say were inspired by the loss
of poet Conrad Hilberry's wife of fifty-six years, Marion. While the
poems in this volume delve into the initial emptiness and hopelessness
of grieving, the poet's connections to the natural world, music, and
other people ultimately bring him back into the present while still
acknowledging and honoring the past. The work of a skilled poet with a
lifetime of experience, this collection displays Hilberry's mastery of
form. The book's three sections include a sonnet, five villanelles, and
a variety of stanza structures, all written in his signature tone, which
is contemplative, tender, and moving.
The elegant poems of Until the Full Moon Has Its Say arise from the
consideration of ordinary, even humble, subjects-a bowl on a table, a
blackout, mosquitoes, garlic mustard, algae on the local pond.
Hilberry's relaxed voice is wise and measured even in the depths of
grief, as he muses, How can I draw dead branches / in a poem? Part of
the answer to that question lies in the use of form, which gives shape
to experience. In his formal virtuosity, Hilberry even writes a
villanelle-a notoriously difficult poetic form-about writing a
villanelle.
Written by the poet in his eighties, Until the Full Moon Has Its Say
is a powerful reflection on mortality and on the art that has been his
lifelong practice. All readers of poetry will treasure this powerful
volume.
