Gary Fincke – författare

Written during thefirst three “Covid Years,” For Now, We Have Been Spared is a collectionof complex sequences and carefully constructed shorter poems that reflect theuncertainty of living through a pandemic—not only in terms of the immediatethreats to the body, but also the tectonic shifts in how we perceive the natureof existence itself.

The opening sequence—asustained, metaphorical meditation on the devastation caused by the multipledeaths of a friend’s sons, sets a tone of elegiac reflection that runsthroughout the collection. Near tragedies are paired with simple joys; sicknessis mirrored by health; coming-of-age is followed by poems immersed in theexperience of aging.

These are poems that carry the weight of decades of observation and experience. Their subjects rangefrom the commonplaces of domestic life to the public realm of politics. Whatbinds all of them together is their grounding in sensory detail. Extended narrativeis present in nearly every poem. The subtle cadences of prose poetry also maketheir presence felt. These poems are set in particular, recognizable places andpopulated by everyday people who find themselves confronting tryingcircumstances. Always, though, hovering at the edge of perception, thereremains the possibility of redemption and grace.

Coal burns underground and destroys a small town. A woman confronts police officers with her pet copperheads. A young girl drinks Drano. A man is banned from his favorite bar.

Coal burns underground and destroys a small town. A woman confronts police officers with her pet copperheads. A young girl drinks Drano. A man is banned from his favorite bar.

The narratives throughout Gary Fincke’s sixth collection of short stories contain newsworthy events that are chronicled secondhand: the shooting of a policeman, the murder of a house flipper, the firing of a teacher for punching a violent student, the accidental drowning of a gay man in a flood, and a fire somewhat accidently set by a juvenile smoker in a school.

Despite these surprising events, the narrator of each story is an ordinary person caught up in the action but preoccupied by other things, whether zombie movies, collecting unusual words, the oddity of other people’s sexual habits, or what to do in retirement. 

These shocking incidents become both central and peripheral to the narrative, as Fincke portrays the fluctuating emotions and self-protective reflections of fathers, sons, and husbands, creating a world where individuals rarely understand each other, yet still arrive at moments of compassion, tolerance, perseverance, and familial love.

The narratives throughout Gary Fincke’s sixth collection of short stories contain newsworthy events that are chronicled secondhand: the shooting of a policeman, the murder of a house flipper, the firing of a teacher for punching a violent student, the accidental drowning of a gay man in a flood, and a fire somewhat accidently set by a juvenile smoker in a school.

Despite these surprising events, the narrator of each story is an ordinary person caught up in the action but preoccupied by other things, whether zombie movies, collecting unusual words, the oddity of other people’s sexual habits, or what to do in retirement. 

These shocking incidents become both central and peripheral to the narrative, as Fincke portrays the fluctuating emotions and self-protective reflections of fathers, sons, and husbands, creating a world where individuals rarely understand each other, yet still arrive at moments of compassion, tolerance, perseverance, and familial love.