Punctum

In Punctum:, Lesley Jenikes new collection, she writes, `Its our language: what can we call a thing / that is and is not. These poems are haunted by a `non-child, a child who was not to be born, and with it, a life the speaker was not to live. Absence itself becomes a nearly tangible presence. I dont know how Jenike does itbreaks your heart and makes you want morebut I cant remember the last time I read poems as smart and sure and devastatingly precise in their language, imagery, and feeling. In a poem about a fateful ultrasound, one that reveals no fetal heartbeat, she writes, `the doctor calls it practice, snapping off // the screen, tearing up the spit-out photograph. / Next time, she says, itll be the real thing. Mark my words: these poems areand this poet isthe real thing. Punctum: is a remarkable accomplishment.