The Daily Mirror by David Lehman

This collection of poetry is returned to so often in my life, that my decades old copy is ragged and dog-eared, the pages softened by my admiration. David Lehman is certainly one of my favorite contemporary poets; his style has always struck me as unique. His writing possesses a vivid imagery and his ability to touch the full spectrum of human emotion in a few simple lines has always stood out among the contemporary poets. On top of his ability to honestly capture even small feelings, I have always enjoyed the wittiness in his words, the hilarity that is often left out of poetry.

The Daily Mirror: A journal in poetry is the first in a two part series in which Lehman set out to create a poem each day. The beauty in this endeavor is the diversity displayed in each poem crafted from January 1st to December 31st. A person can experience many things within the boundaries of a single year, and this remarkable poet manages to pen the minutiae of day to day existence alongside the more grand aspects of life, such as love, loss, and desire.

You would think that embarking on the adventure of writing a poem everyday for a year would yield at least a few unpleasant or unreadable poems, but David Lehman is a man of such immense talent that each poem is touching, or hilarious, or beautiful, (or all three!). Each poem in The Daily Mirror is a clever little journal entry in the life of a man who thrives on the beauty of words.