AT ANY GIVEN SECOND

Hilton’s beguiling poetry collection explores childhood, parenthood, love, and loss.

The author received a Kirkus Star for her YA novel Little Miss Chaos(2016), and its coming-of-age themes can also be found in her first poetry collection, which draws deeply from personal experience. Hilton presents shifting perspectives, as found in the title poem, which opens the collection: “Tossing / a ball. / Good to be / ten again” leads to the lines “Memory / makes eighteen-year-old / son newborn.” This poem is a slideshow of reminiscences, with the last line laconically capturing the crux of memory: “At any given second / we fall together through time.” A number of poems feature the poet’s deceased father, a farmer, and Hilton expertly uses stacked imagery to build readers’ understanding of her dad’s character, including his strengths and frailties: “His scent: musk / cologne, sweat, / smoke. Hard work. / Insulin bottles / syringes scattered / on kitchen table.” Other poems, such as “Day to Day,” celebrate how writing imbues life with purpose: “Barely / surviving. / Until / I pick up / my pen.” Hilton is a strikingly versatile poet, experimenting with such forms as haiku, tankas, and villanelles. “Musing,” written in tercets, is an example of how her often sparse language has the power to shake readers into awareness: “Look hard at your life, / each moment is a poem, / hold it in your hands.” Similarly, the quintain “Learning from Lucy,” a wry summary of C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, proves an unforgettable celebration of female resilience: “Brother, a snitch, / tries to derail his / sister’s Hero’s Journey. Learns / Lucy’s courage burns through ice.” Even Hilton’s most personal poems present liberating, universal truths. In “Shame Not Hers,” she speaks to her younger self: “all the shame she picked up, / carried for a long time, / never belonged to her.” The poet’s deft skill, combined with her endearingly compassionate approach to life, makes this debut well worth reading.

Varied, dexterous, and tender poems.