Dunce by Mary Ruefle

With unassuming language and a tendency toward whimsy, Mary Ruefle’s Dunce is a welcomed surprise. In her pieces—strange and brief—Ruefle manages to pack big gusts of meaning. Existential, or awe-stricken, or loving, or lonely, her poems get a lot across in a small amount of space. And for a poet rooted in beauty, she manages to stay balanced in tone and content, mixing in a good amount of dark with the light, much like nature itself—a topic which comes up again and again in her poems. Dunce is a pleasure and a shock to read, and her words’ quickness and brevity warrant many readings.