Slow Air: Poems

Strongly rooted in the wonders of the natural world, this collection of poems strikes a balance along the mind's boundaries, looking outward and inward. Combining a cool gaze with a precise clarity of expression, the verse is muscular and delicate, spare and musical. From "that net of birds / that moves / unloosened / under bridges at dusk" to "the sea / wrecking itself against the rocks," Robertson is a master of evocative depiction. Filled with an irrepressible zest for life, he traces the arc of loss, the search for grace, and the radiance and shadows of life with a subtlety that is at once exhilarating and sensual.