Master of Disguises, Charles Simic 2010

The twentieth book of poetry by a graduate of my alma mater, Oak Park-River Forest High School.  Belgrade-born, WWII displaced, UNH professor, Pulitzer Prize winner, and former Poet Laureate, Simic writes spare, stark lines about the mundane, everyday details with a surprise often concluding a poem’s final line.  Crystallizing details frequent his poem’s phrases.  The title refers to Jesus in this world, never recognized and not noticed among the disabled veterans, the missing in South America, the homeless, isolated, abandoned.  Winter, dark nights, abandoned homes, empty streets are frequent images in this reflection on lives of endless tragedy and no meaning.  Grim stuff but beautifully expressed.