First I Was Wise, by Robin Styles Oliver

Poetry, chapbook, 28 pages, from Bottlecap Features. First I Was Wise chronicles the decision for an individual to be authentic with themselves the way they are with others in choice to radically change themselves and their life. Written from the perspective of wonder for existence, this book talks about realization of oneself in a place of hermitage to know wilderness for where to build a home. Its writing muses poetical on subjects of nature and relationship, where concerns our capacity as unique for the meaning of discovery within. Regard for how to choose wisely in life is the operative theme woven throughout, and the meaning that follows is ours to shape. This demands of us what anybody does: to demand all of fidelity for trust entirely for all risk to decide not simply how, but when to change for another day. Thus, First I Was Wise is ultimately a wondering for the becoming of choice in a person’s world who loves themselves and their neighbor the same, wishing joy and grieving truly for a way that belongs. Robin Styles Oliver is a Chicago poet of his wiser meaning for kindness and war, where arises their unity toward a philosophy of bold. His work has appeared in Poetry Quarterly, and presently he is working on a manuscript called The Walk Down Block Nine with a second on the way.