Boston Athenæum

October 5, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum. Henri Cole’s bold new collection ‘Nothing to Declare’ contains poems of feral beauty and intense vulnerability. Each poem starts up from its own unique occasion and is then conducted through surprising (sometimes unnerving) and self-steadying domains. The result is a daring, delicate, unguarded, and tender collection. They combine a susceptibility to sensuousness with an awareness of desolation. Cole transforms the pain of experience into the pleasure of expressive language, with precise reliability of detail, a supple wealth of sound, and a speculative truthfulness. ‘Nothing to Declare’ is a rare work that is light in touch but with just enough weight to mark the soul.