An Open Parenthesis

Like Philip Rowland's previous Isobar collection, Something Other Than Other (2016), An Open Parenthesis gathers short poems into meticulously arranged sequences. Although the book is striking in its minimalism, it is not programmatically so: rather, it flexibly interweaves themes of city life, parenthood and poetics through a series of nine sections that can in the end be read as one long, book-length work. While drawing on the poet's notable engagement with the haiku tradition, this collection moves into new areas and - as the title suggests - into a new openness and open-endedness.