Wandering into an intimate English club discussion at Emory University a few winters ago exposed me to one of America’s best poets. Of course, had I not been a hungry college student who spied refreshments, I may never have stumbled upon Natasha Trethewey reading from Bellocq’s Ophelia.

Such unintended moments are the life-blood of poetry. There is little room for heavy-handedness. Overt politics dulls poetry. When done well, poetry can also be political, but e-mail blasts from your party of choice rarely touch your soul. So, Washington politicos – put down the latest poll results and pick-up a book of poetry.

Trethewey’s most recent work, Native Guard, unintentionally jumped off the shelf at me (the book is paperback and I sustained no bruises). Trethewey’s masterful manipulation of memory and uncanny ability to articulate the remembered past is enrapturing. Fortunately, the poems do not leap out at you – they subtly entice you into Trethewey’s cellular memory.

Native Guard, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize, is a full-body experience. Trethewey understands that there is no point in writing if you are not also committed to writing honestly. She writes the world as she sees and feels it.

Trethewey sifts through memories, studies each minute piece and presents them to the reader without the murkiness that sometimes accompanies poetry.

I highly recommend Natasha Trethewey’s Native Guard to people who are timid about poetry. She colors the abstract and voices enduring human longings. For those who have suffered loss and seek recovery, read Native Guard.