My Mourning Turned to Laughter

In "My Mourning Turned to Laughter," Robert Champ's third book of poetry, the harshness and philosophical bankruptcy of the postmodern era are depicted in both narrative and lyric verse. In equal measure, Champ also writes of the pleasures of art, the comfort and challenge of human relationships, the beauties of nature, and the approach to God. As Champ writes in the Preface, "For all the darkness in which we have wrapped ourselves, there are still sources of joy, moments of connection during which we see that everything fits, is orderly." The poems produce no answers to the human dilemma, a quest for which they are, in any case, unsuited. Poetry, as W. H. Auden says, "makes nothing happen." And yet, at its best, poetry can offer solace and hope that "all manner of things will be well." The author attempts in these pages to do both.