The Nightlife
The first poem in this collection juxtaposes a house being closed up with a tragedy at a beach. In the penultimate, Paschen writes “I entered the room / of this life to discover / time had come to move.” In between are infidelities and funerals, umbrellas hurtled by the wind, landmines hidden in sand, and tightly wound rhymes that hint of a spirit coiled, waiting in the dark. Best read at night.