After All by Robert B. Cumming

The poet, Robert B. Cumming, is 94-years-old, so there is a lot of “after” that has come beyond “all’ kinds of times in his life! Bob’s life as a poet was preceded by his career as a research scientist for thirty years and as the founder and leader of Iris Press for twenty-five years. “With this volume, we now realize that Bob is a gifted poet as well as publisher. The craft of these poems is impressive: metrics and complex rhyme patterns (as in the villanelle "Long-Distance Runner") are deftly achieved, and . . . the formal restraint intensifies the poems' emotional power. Nevertheless, what is most memorable in these elegiac poems is their hard-won sentiment. They are never mawkish or self-pitying, but they are great-hearted, especially in their honoring of the love between Bob and his late wife Carmen. This collection shows a side of Bob we've always sensed was there but never seen so fully revealed.” – Ron Rash. “Yes, life is short and unpredictable, but when the love for Carmen en