Everyone Disappears

In this follow-up to his earlier chapbook, Not Quite: Poems Written in Search of My Father (FLP, 2015), Luther Jett confronts the ephemeral nature of our lives, the process of grief, and the endurance of memory. Jett draws upon recollections of family, as well as historical events and forces to weave a tapestry of image and reflection. Loss "... comes with the ticking of clocks ..." the author reminds us in his title poem, "... and that is why the ocean tastes of tears." Jett writes of ghostly grandfather clocks that walk in the night, of forgotten toys scattered in an unmown lawn, of the importance and the hidden dangers of holding on to memory. "What can I sing to tell your feast?" Jett asks in the poem "Seamus", adding in his later poem, "One by One", "I chant the names of things long after they have gone."

Maryland's Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri says of Jett's work: "[N]ever have the dead been more alive .... Subtle and intelligent stories, realized through the power of Jett's voice, make life appear on every page." In this time of world-wide pandemic and upheaval, "Everyone Disappears" may take on additional resonance as we grope for understanding in the face of tragedy and uncertainty.