The Second Person: Poems

Drawing on traditional forms including the villanelle and pantoum, and writing with an ear for a beautiful, resounding rhythm, C. Dale Young investigates the lessons of the trainee doctor and documents the experiences of the practicing physician, remarking on the ways medicine alone is not enough: “Do not let a man // abandon hope,” says Saint Luke. And, as with the remarkable long sequence, “Triptych at the Edge of Sight,” these are also poems of intimacy, depicting with rich color and poignant contemplation the way art struggles to “capture [. . .] on canvas. / Memory, do not fail me. Let me try again.”