A Quiet Triumph…
The author of multiple memoirs and novels, Berner, turns to poetry in this luminous and deeply meditative collection that honors the overlooked textures of daily life. The poems, organized into three thematic sections: “Landscape,” “Love,” and “Longing,” evoke the rhythms of the natural world and the emotional undercurrents of a life well-lived. In “Desert Prayer,” the speaker thinks about tasting the red rocks and “the sweet spine/ of the sagebrush,” as he imagines swallowing the earth and communing with its sacred presence. “Before the Rain” offers a subtle elegy for childhood wonder. Aging and impermanence are treated with clear-eyed tenderness. In “Early Enough,” he writes, “It’s early enough/ for the sun to be a divine fire it can never be again,” capturing the ache of fleeting beauty.
Memory, in this collection, is not something to cling to, but something to carry gently. In “Thinking of My Death,” Berner imagines his sister’s ashes traveling with him to the grocery store and the dentist. Love, in all of its forms: earthly, familial, and divine, threads quietly through the work. “In the Garden,” dedicated to his wife, balances presence and parting in the lines, “Because I’ve always been, I say,/ because I have always been letting go.” Even in sensual moments, as in “Sunday Omelet,” the tone remains intimate and sincere, favoring gesture over grand declaration.
As the book turns toward memory and longing, it reaches its most vulnerable register. In “Ashes from a Fire,” Berner walks us through decades of a life in snapshots. The poem ends with a quiet revelation: “snow has fallen overnight/ like cinders from a fire.” It is this understated wisdom that defines the book’s emotional core. Berner’s style is spare, unfussy, and deeply human. His short lines invite silence between thoughts; his metaphors rarely announce themselves. A celebration of the small, the sacred, and the seen, the book reminds readers that sometimes the deepest truths grow in the quietest corners.
Coming soon
Finishing Line Press
Price $20.99
