In Man at the Railing, the 2022 winner of the Laura Boss Narrative Poetry Award, Edwin Romond explores how "joy and loss join hands across our lifetime." Drawing upon his family experiences, his four decades in public education, and his love of music and baseball, Romond's poetry suggests the past can be a teacher as well as a source of both inspiration and anguish. Man at the Railing is the work of a seasoned poet viewing the world and his place in it with clear eyes and a beating heart. |
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In this exquisitely crafted collection, "“joy / and loss join hands." The reader is welcomed into a world where "Miles and Monk poured out notes / like apple wine," where Hank Aaron "did his own breaking," and a worthless day turns wondrous as the speaker bathes his infant son, "water on my sleeve / and soap on my nose." With Romond as our graceful guide we visit bygone theatres, musical halls, and stadiums, where Anne Frank, Johnny Mathis, and Jessie Owens preside alongside parents, mentors, and friends. With his gift for resonant imagery, a kayak "moves through water softly, / like a raindrop down the gloss / of an apple" and deer "snuggle / like family pets ...absolv[ing] ... men for arrows and bullets aimed at their breed." In "Nighttime Radio," the speaker longs "to send / music and verse into the world of night." Man at the Railing does just that.
—Martha Silano, Author of Gravity Assist
Edwin Romond's Man at the Railing brilliantly demonstrates how it is possible to see the world newly with the wisdom of perspective. In this volume, Romond is a virtuosic architect who employs the emptinesses left by heartbreak and other sorrows to fashion gorgeous, livable spaces. His materials: deeply-felt experiences and an immutable belief in the dignity of others. This marvelous book shines a warm yet honest light on the spots where, as he writes in the title poem, "joy and loss join hands." I have admired and learned from Romond's work for decades, and this is his finest book yet.
—BJ Ward, Author of Jackleg Opera, Recipient of the Paterson Award for Literary Excelle
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