Description:
In spare and unsparing lines, Eric Hyett charts his wavering voyage through love and grief as he accompanies his mother, the acclaimed poet Barbara Helfgott Hyett, on her descent into the debilitating effects of Alzheimer's disease: "My mother lives/ her life these days// as a poem with no images: / only sensory input// and gravitational waves/ from far-off galaxies..." Both courageous and vulnerable, he shares the conundrum of being at once a son, a caregiver, and also the vestigial voice of a woman who had been passionate about bringing forth words into the world, both her own, and the words of her beloved students. Tender, tragic, and unforgettable. __Robbie Gamble (Poetry Editor, Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices)
Brief description: "Aporia" is the debut collection of poetry by Eric E. Hyett. A poet and literary translator from Boston, Eric and his co-translator, Spencer Thurlow, made the shortlists for the 2018 National Translation Award and the 2018 Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize for their translation of "Sonic Peace" by contemporary Japanese female poet Minashita Kiriu (Phoneme Media, 2017). Eric's poems, essays and translations are part of the ongoing dialogue in Granta, The Georgia Review, Lily Poetry Review, The Hudson Review, World Literature Today and Modern Poetry in Translation. With "Aporia," he seeks to engage the Alzheimer's community in meaningful conversation.