Galileo's Spyglass

In this new book of poems, Sean McDowell seeks fresh ways of seeing during a season of losses. His habits of paying attention here probe the imaginative lives of others, including animals and various historical figures. Several poems on Renaissance scientists--Galileo, Kepler, and Nicolas Steno--chase moments of inspiration and insight, while others on the miracles of Saint Francis of Paola marvel at mysteries. Elsewhere, the blowing of wind through alder leaves, the slaughter of a duck, the felling of a great oak, the purge of books from office shelves, and the death of a junco provide glances at larger sorrows people face in their collective lives. But consolation comes in verse letters to lost and distant friends, advice poems, expressions of gratitude, and closely held moments of beauty, all to find some new plot of peace.