Deadly Pollen

Stephen Oliver makes a turn in language in his latest release, Deadly Pollen, a collection of new and recently published poems full of both original and mystical references. Conversation, myth, image, symbol - all are mined for their poetic point, all wrung out to dry. Perhaps the most approachable book of Oliver's to date, Deadly Pollen is full of poems that are complete in and of themselves, yet woven together with spirituality, a sense of the magic of science. The author says his book "represents an ongoing exploration of damage to our larger cultural environment" and uses his work to "pay homage to historical memory." If, as Auden suggests, "poems make nothing happen," then Oliver's poetry is vital, classic, the literary equivalent of Dorothea Lange's photography. Oliver calls poetry "an exercise of loss and preservation." In Deadly Pollen, he submits his evidence to the world.