Deadly Pollen

"Deadly Pollen" by Stephen Oliver is a collection of poems from the early 2000s that looks at tough issues like political problems and what it means to be alive after big events like 9/11. Through powerful pictures drawn with words and careful language, Oliver tries to understand difficult feelings, memories, and what poets do when things are chaotic. In the book, Oliver gives us many poems that talk about how easily our world can be broken, how much the past weighs us down, and how nothing lasts forever. The book has 35 short poems that ask big questions and think about our culture, mixing personal thoughts with criticisms of how our society works. Oliver often wrestles with what happens because of modern life, like destruction, feeling let down, and a lack of spirit. The poems show how well he uses language, with strong images and different references that make us think about being human in a world full of chaos; Oliver asks us to face both the good and the bad parts of living today.