When Our Fathers Return to Us as Birds is a random pull off the shelf of new poetry in our downtown main library. The book turned out to be one of the best books of poetry I have read this year.

Markus is a Michigander, which I did not realize until I got the book home. Another realization is that Wayne State University near Detroit is also a publisher of many fine books by Michigan authors. I bookmarked the page for a further look when I want to find more poetry by Michigan authors.

The poems are mainly centered around the death of Markus' father. Birds, the St. Clair River, the old steel mill, boats and other subjects, important to his father when he was alive, and to the author, figure prominently in many of the poems. Markus spent a lot of time taking care of his father and helping his mother at the end of his father's life and this is reflected in many of the poems.

I am including here, a link to the Kenyon Review's page where two of the poems from this collection are available for reading, I returned the book to the library before I reviewed the book. These poems are, however, two of many that I really liked:

https://kenyonreview.org/kr-online-issue/2020-septoct/selections/peter-markus-76...

Many of the poems moved me and despite most of the poems being about grief and loss, it never seemed like too much. Reading Markus' poetry brought up a lot of memories of my mother's last days and the grief and guilt I felt afterward.

I look forward to more poetry by Peter Markus after this first published volume. ( )