Will Nixon has created a literary jewel box with If Not In Heaven, Then In Saugerties. I don’t think I’ve read a book with so many hybrid hyphenations. As you read through it, you’ll find layers of memoir, essay, poem and prose poem, biography and autobiography, confessions, journalistic articles and historical documents. These different forms never compete with one another but interweave to create a whole cloth, a story that unfolds about time and place and people.
Saugerties, (a Dutch term for sawmill) is a small town nestled in New York’s Hudson Valley. It remains its own time capsule brought to life by the poems and commentaries of local author Will Nixon. He puts his own personal stamp on the book by addressing the challenges and sometimes the agony of writing and presenting one’s work to the public both on the page and in readings. These passages bring an intimacy to the book in between the detailed and often humorous observations of small-town shops and longtime residents. The book is indeed a writer’s journey that meditates on what it is to live in a small town, in this case Saugerties. What also impressed me was the book’s format: over forty pages of lyrical, accessible poems where we meet people and places is followed by over fifty pages of commentary titled, “The Stories Behind the Poems.” Here are presented essays, some objective, some quite personal that bring additional understanding to the poems we have already read. There are two ways to read the book: read a poem and then read its following commentary or read through all the poems to ride that wave of language and image that poetry offers and then settle into reading the prose essays that make up the second half. Either way will satisfy depending on the reader’s mood and how you might want to approach this heartfelt volume.
Some pieces I noted as favorites were the poems “Fiery Words” and “Oil Trains” along with their prose commentaries. I also responded to the ecology-related pieces, “Esopus Bend Nature Preserve” and “Falling Waters” and the author’s reflections on local architecture: The Orpheum Theatre, Overlook Mountain Hotel; and the Saugerties Lighthouse. Throughout, Will Nixon returns to talk about poetry and poets and how they have shaped him and his community. The eye-catching cover by artist Joanne Pagano Weber along with an end photo of her full-scale character portraits of locals adds energetic visuals to the book.
If Not in Heaven, Then In Saugerties is a book-shelf worthy volume to read and reread. It’s a book of poetry, social commentary and a celebration of community. Take the journey with author Will Nixon and then take your own tour of Saugerties and its environs. You’ll discover a lot.
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Will Nixon’s latest poetry book is If Not in Heaven, Then in Saugerties, a town portrait in poems that he began during the Covid lockdown and completed four years later as we stumble forward. His other books include My Late Mother as a Ruffed Grouse and Love in the City of Grudges. He lives in Kingston, New York. willnixon.com.
Lightwood 