a new measure (poetry report)

In a poem about three-quarters of the way through  Soft Water , John Coletti writes:   that poetry is psychic is no new concept though it continues to surprise me   What’s satisfying about  Soft Water  is its use of “no new” features of poetry—caesura and line breaks, done with musicality—to still surprise and arouse emotion.    If this sounds cheesy, it’s probably because contemporary poetry trends toward ironic detachment and cynicism. That attitude is appropriate, given the world as it is. (As if in acknowledgement of this state of affairs—the grim state of the world, that is—Coletti writes:   I meant this poem to be gentle the source of perfect wisdom though gentle times / these are not)   However, Coletti still writes lines like:   I lay awake beside you restful and holding your hair saw my breath burn. It made me feel young autumn air   The line break that transitions the abstract “feel young” to the concrete (but ephemeral) “...