Stupid Hope

The final collection by the late Jason Shinder, "one of the finest of our new poets" (Gerald Stern)

I close my eyes and try to remember
when I was unopposed, when I started to die,
buoyant, fragrant, shuddering with love.
—from "Before"

Jason Shinder's last poems are his moving testimonies to poetry, love, and friendship. With power, clarity, and disarming humor, the poems confront grief and mortality with a humility and fortitude that come only "with hope, stupid hope." Stupid Hope is Shinder's wry, penetrating, and wise farewell.