Spot in the Dark

Beth Gylys

“These poems leap out at me for their rhythmic authority, a sense of a firm and purposeful line. This is a sexy book, it seems to me, but the sex isn’t lurid or juvenile. Instead, it examines with a mature, intellectual and emotional intelligence that is very appealing. And with that it remains sexy.” —Andrew Hudgins

Spot in the Dark is a collection of poetry exploring the nuances of human relationship. From new love to extra marital affairs to dating to solitude, the book’s four sections read as a journey on the part of a series of narrators who wrestle through the beginning and middle stages of love, the complications of an affair, the challenges of single life, and finally come to focus on the external world: the beauty and starkness of a winter landscape, the ebullience of spring, the breathtaking loveliness of a sunset. The book’s arc moves from examining the human wish and will to connect to another to presenting the self as part of a larger, richer, and more complicated set of external relationships. Written predominantly in free verse, these sometimes meditative, sometimes cynical, sometimes playful poems sift through the difficulties and pleasures of living in the world.

Beth Gylys is assistant professor of creative writing at Georgia State University.