Of such a nature =

the long version

A remarkable collection of poems first published in Cuba in 2012, Of Such a Nature/ Índole is a bilingual edition translated into English by Peter Boyle. Boyle also provides an extensive introduction, placing Kozer's work in a critical context. The Spanish word "índole" can be translated as "a type," "a sort," or "that sort of thing." The title, Índole, suggests that the poems gathered in this collection are all instances of specific situations, things, or experiences. Kozer's poems concern everyday life--cleaning one's dentures, a woman leaning over a bowl of oatmeal, a salamander glimpsed while eating breakfast--but always with mortality close at hand. The poems address subjects as varied as Kozer's Jewish heritage; his Cuban childhood and ongoing connection to the Island; Buddhist and East Asian traditions of spiritual practice; his everyday life in Florida with his wife, Guadalupe; aging; illness; and the shadow of death. Irony and humor are here as well, and to read these poems is to be in the presence of the full seriousness of poetry and its playfulness, its ability to undercut all pretensions--back cover.