Dodo Feathers - by Jamey Hecht (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Dodo Feathers: Poems 1989-2019 is about eclipse and extinction, flightlessness, and lost futures both public and private. The title comes from the poem ACounterfactual@:

The opposite of hope is not despair,
it is the wish for freedom in the past long gone:
the unaborted second term of RFK,
the Yorkist claim triumphant in the field,
Arbenz, Lumumba, Mossadeq, alive
and signing legislation with a Dodo-feather pen.

Review Quotes

"Taken together, these poems map the whole landscape of human history, its hills and valleys, its vast oceans of joy and despair. Joined by such companions as Homer and John Ashbery, Jamey Hecht sketches a picture that isn't always pretty, but it's complete. And that's enough, these wise and often musical poems say." --David Kirby

"Jamey Hecht's poetry is unique and memorable, with deep roots in literary tradition, a tragic sensibility, and a distinctive verbal music that can be trance-inducing. Dodo Feathers is a heartbreaker." --Peter Dale Scott