Nurse Log

When Ortega y Gasset described the hunter as the "alert man," he could have had someone like John Fritzell in mind. The poet's experience in the field has emphatically sharpened his eye for natural detail and process. It has also given him and this collection a distinctive authority in a time when poets are either disembodied in their meditations or, if they fancy themselves "nature poets," are inclined to devise Disneyfied notions of Nature's alleged harmony. Fritzell sees the emptiness in either approach. And, in an uncannily subtle way, "Nurse Log" (and this title poem repays especial attention!) manages to imply all manner of human urgencies even as he considers duck, raccoon, grouse, or what have you. A magnificent and moving read indeed!

-Sydney Lea, Vermont Poet Laureate (2011-15), winner, Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts (2021)

John Fritzell brings to his poetry acute powers of observation honed by his many outdoor avocations. Not unlike the "Nurse Log," the title both of the collection and its lead poem, Fritzell's poems grow from seeds of seeing - the behavior of a single robin on a window sill or copious entries from a hunter's log-book - into mature plants of poetic reflection. The author seamlessly and imaginatively moves from perceptive renderings of the observed to riffs on matters as diverse as familial bonds, weather, holy days, dogs, desire, special places, landscapes, friendship, and war. Poems of great concision stand alongside those packed with vivid images - whatever it takes to convey awe, wit, tenderness, love, or a treasured past. Don't just look, this poetry seems to say, but see. You'll be surprised where that can take you.

-J. Michael Hittle, Professor Emeritus of History at Lawrence University, author, An Accidental Jewel: Wisconsin's Turtle-Flambeau Flowage