Or Maybe I Drift Off Alone

The title for Lowell Jaeger's Or Maybe I Drift Off Alone comes from his poem, 'Four Chaplains,' a story of self-sacrifice in a hopeless situation. These poems puzzle over themes of duty and sacrifice within the give and take of ordinary lives. Those who tell the tales are sometimes generous and sometimes not, but they are unwaveringly honest. 'Let's assume there s a lesson/ in every small thing,' Jaeger writes in 'Follow Your Bliss?' This is a book of small things and lessons made eloquent by Jaeger's formal and lyrical skill. County library book sales, small town restaurants, road trips, and tow trucks all have a place in this volume whose ultimate theme is acceptance, forgiveness, and love. --Tami Haaland, former Montana Poet Laureate and author of When We Wake in the Night