At Some Point
Will be published approx. on 15. December 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
88 pages
978-0-299-35544-9 (ISBN)
Description
Time is slippery. At Some Point openly acknowledges this while exploring the intersections between past and present, childhood and adulthood, midlife and mortality. Joyously and solemnly tugging on the threads that connect us-to life, to the planet, to each other-David O'Connell finds meaning in the small things: vacation photos, middle school band concerts, and Halloween decorations.
An earworm, a sudden memory, the arrival of a fox in the neighborhood, even camaraderie among other patients awaiting colonoscopies-all are grist for O'Connell's ability to view the world simultaneously anew and as it once appeared. Wistfully admiring his daughter's awareness of how the pandemic has turned snow days into remote teaching days, he observes "thirteen winters, / I'm finding, is enough to become wise."
From the quotidian to the profound, this is a collection that hovers around your consciousness, reshaping your own vision and insight.
An earworm, a sudden memory, the arrival of a fox in the neighborhood, even camaraderie among other patients awaiting colonoscopies-all are grist for O'Connell's ability to view the world simultaneously anew and as it once appeared. Wistfully admiring his daughter's awareness of how the pandemic has turned snow days into remote teaching days, he observes "thirteen winters, / I'm finding, is enough to become wise."
From the quotidian to the profound, this is a collection that hovers around your consciousness, reshaping your own vision and insight.
Reviews / Votes
"Plain-spoken, warm, and affectionate poems give way to deeper observation as O'Connell turns a wry eye on finitude and mortality. These poems never leave us behind, embracing a world in which even a 'lummox' (like us) can be 'gobsmacked' by 'so many choices' that 'the whole universe seemed possible.' This is a capacious and big-hearted book." - Ronald WallaceMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Wisconsin
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 5 mm
Weight
127 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-299-35544-9 (9780299355449)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
David O'Connell's previous poetry collections include Our Best Defense and the chapbook A Better Way to Fall. His work has appeared in New Ohio Review, Ploughshares, Cincinnati Review, Southern Poetry Review, and North American Review, among other journals. O'Connell lives in Rhode Island with his wife, the poet Julie Danho, and their daughter. His work can be found at davidoconnellpoet.com.
Content
I.
Late at Night, I Watch The Blue Planet
We're Thinking of the Black Hole at the Center of the Galaxy
Fresh Air
I'm Happy Because My Daughter Is Sad
Intervale Cemetery
Period Piece
Frank O'Hara
The Physician
I'm Calling 911!
Hunt
You Must Act as Though You'll Live
In Spring
Let's Talk About the Weather
II.
Watching My Wife Parasail
The Yard Is Full of Light
I Was Startled It Was Death
We Rush to See Their Movies
After
The Forecast Calls for Snow
My Friend Comes Back
This Is How It Happens
In College We Were Assigned "The Dead"
In Case You Were Wondering
Watching My Daughter's Tap Recital
The Past Isn't What It Was When It Was
The Rational Animal
You Were My First Fox
Cathedral Ledge
III.
Minor Planets of the Inner Solar System
Oh My Goodness, Here Goes Your Body
Procedure
Avalanche
As If There Were Lessons
How to Tell the One About Fatherhood
This Time
Emitter
I Read the Dead are Returning
The World As It Is
Encore
All Summer, the Rain
Love Song
Starter Home
When I Hear It's a Buyer's Market
The Elegant Universe
Acknowledgments
Notes
Late at Night, I Watch The Blue Planet
We're Thinking of the Black Hole at the Center of the Galaxy
Fresh Air
I'm Happy Because My Daughter Is Sad
Intervale Cemetery
Period Piece
Frank O'Hara
The Physician
I'm Calling 911!
Hunt
You Must Act as Though You'll Live
In Spring
Let's Talk About the Weather
II.
Watching My Wife Parasail
The Yard Is Full of Light
I Was Startled It Was Death
We Rush to See Their Movies
After
The Forecast Calls for Snow
My Friend Comes Back
This Is How It Happens
In College We Were Assigned "The Dead"
In Case You Were Wondering
Watching My Daughter's Tap Recital
The Past Isn't What It Was When It Was
The Rational Animal
You Were My First Fox
Cathedral Ledge
III.
Minor Planets of the Inner Solar System
Oh My Goodness, Here Goes Your Body
Procedure
Avalanche
As If There Were Lessons
How to Tell the One About Fatherhood
This Time
Emitter
I Read the Dead are Returning
The World As It Is
Encore
All Summer, the Rain
Love Song
Starter Home
When I Hear It's a Buyer's Market
The Elegant Universe
Acknowledgments
Notes