Landing Light

Summary

Moving between fatherhood, metaphysical inquiry, and versions of Rilke, this collection contemplates the ways in which souls, selves, and meanings alight briefly in the world before passing on. Paterson's formal control is extraordinary—he uses the sonnet and other traditional forms as instruments of precise thinking—and the poems carry both dark wit and genuine warmth. With this book he became the first poet to win the T. S. Eliot Prize twice.