This open-ended narrative, embodied in a sequence of sonnets, traces the arc of love, elegantly examining the peregrinations of delight, desire, devotion, attachment, friendship, and care. In the Open Hand sensitively limns the ongoing dance between intimacy and distance, between welcoming embrace and respect for otherness. Reveling in a love of language and ably deploying the language of love, it engages honestly and compassionately with fear even as it brims with hope.
"W. H. Auden said 'A poet is, before anything else, a person who is passionately in love with language.' With this as a working definition, Gary Chartier shows himself to be a consummate poet. Here in this volume of sonnets he addresses, almost always, a nameless 'you' with whom he shares moments and thoughts and dances. But whoever the 'you' is, the real focus of the poems is the language itself. Chartier's subject matter (these are love poems) only serves to display his uncanny ability for word choice and line construction. The words themselves often seem like something out of Shakespeare, Donne, or some other poet of a by-gone era. The sentiments, too, remind me of metaphysical poets pining for a closer connection to a beloved. The content, though, really serves to show the exquisite beauty of language itself. The vocabulary is impressive and the rhymes, often with clever non-stop line endings, are imaginative and fresh. If you, too, love the English language and want to see it displayed in sonnet form, read these poems and then re-read them. They are a bit like a short scene from
Rear Window where Grace Kelly bends down to kiss Jimmy Stewart. Every time I see the scene I'm struck by how beautiful it is and how much in love with Kelly Hitchcock must have been. His adoration shows in every frame. And here in these poems, Chartier shows a similar love for poetry itself."
—Renard K. Doneskey, Professor of English at Southwestern Adventist University
"Chartier’s sequence of seventy-five traditional, even at times old-fashioned, sonnets evinces a poet of passion, longing, and thoughtfulness. This book welcomes the reader in with a poetics of sincerity and emotion, free of postmodern ironies. Chartier is writing with skill in a tradition he clearly knows and loves. I look forward to rereading these sonnets, and to reading more poetry from Chartier."
—Craig Svonkin, Associate Professor of English at Metropolitan State University of Denver and Executive Director of the Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association
"Gary Chartier knows what love means 'from the inside,' and he conveys his experience to readers, with a fine ear for language. I enjoyed In the Open Hand and predict that many others will do so as well."
—David Gordon, Senior Fellow of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and author of Resurrecting Marx
"In this collection of sonnets, Gary Chartier, best known as a legal scholar, deploys the language and tropes of the great sonneteers. But these seemingly sunny and chivalrous poems conceal bracing observations within the velvet glove of their traditional diction. Many poems close with mordant insights worthy of the Metaphysicals: 'Wondrous the parts, yet more are you entire.' This love is ardent yet knowing; it includes not only the one, but multiple, possible beloveds—including even, perhaps, the reader—to whom he issues the thrilling invitation, 'Let us . . . be wild together!'"
—Coco Owen, author of Scar let Woe man and member of the Les Figues Press board
Gary Chartier is Professor of Law and Business Ethics and Associate Dean of the Tom and Vi Zapara School of Business at La Sierra University in Riverside, California. Visit him on-line at garychartier.net.
