Oracle Bones

Author Mark Doty writes, Elegy, exorcism, expiation, charms against dread: poetry's old work is disarmingly vital here. C. Mikal Oness's poems are steeped in Old English poetics, but bent to a distinctly modern tune. 'Oracle Bones'is ghosted by fish and by birds, by human presence and oncoming darkness, but suffused too by a tenderness that does not deny how deeply haunted these poems are, holding out the possibility of hope despite, and the actuality of praise. Peter Everwine notes, In 'Oracle Bones' two voices alternate and sometimes overlap. One voice is descriptive and narrative; the other, speaking in intimate poems of four or five lines, is lyrical, runic, mysterious. The effect is one of text and supra-text, not a random collection of poems but a deepening exploration of themes that center on loss, love, and our attendant responsibilities. Allusions to fly fishing-casting a line to draw up, by artifice, what lies beneath a surface, under dark rocks or weeds-often appear as metaphors in these poems. Oness casts such a line, and what he brings to light is both surprising and beautiful. Oness's newest collection of poetry is sensitive and significant, a pleasure to read and necessary for all readers of contemporary poetry.