Penultimate Again
by Morgan Driscoll
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Pub Date Dec 06 2024 | Archive Date Dec 09 2024
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Description
Penultimate Again is an exploration in poetry of the themes of middle age and the task of finding meaning in an increasingly absurd existence. The poems chase a sense of substance in brief moments of love, family, interaction with nature, and frequently an undertone of humor that the author finds in spite of existential confusion. The title refers to living on the edge of what seems to be significant history but what for the author always ends up as just more moments that don’t make much sense. Ultimately the poems insist that it is the very mystery of confusion that hope can be found within.
Advance Praise
Morgan Driscoll's Penultimate Again is a stunning debut collection. The book is full of raw insight as we navigate the author's persona over the course of a single day. We overhear his worries and his desires, and learn along the way the many things that make us human—that men are "inept but for the / reaching things, / and opening the mayonnaise.” The book is a joy.
—Charles Rafferty, author of A Cluster of Noisy Planets
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In Morgan Driscoll’s debut collection, one can hear echoes of Billy Collins channeling Tony Hoagland’s ghost while Lord Byron plays in the background. The speaker tackles middle-aged joys and struggles, from new love to fatherhood to political correctness, with irony, humor, and unmistakable tenderness. The poems skate seamlessly through various forms, including terza rima, sonnets, and lyrical fragments, leaving delightful aural surprises, humorous turns, and compassion in their wake.
—Maria Nazos, Ph.D. & author of PULSE (2026)
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