The poems in Catherine Chandler's The Frangible Hour are woven together like a tapestry, balanced between loss and hope. Though many of the poems are parts of a series, everything feels linked: for example, in poems like "For Melina, 8, Sleeping," the poet explores one perfect, beautiful moment of innocence, a child's belief in Santa. The narrator, though, can't leave the scene before acknowledging that the world will eventually betray that the world is not so magical. But The Frangible Hour looks as unflinchingly at the joy as the sorrow: Chandler forces herself towards finding the good "in what [she's] got.".

2016 Richard Wilbur Award Recipient.