The Human Equation
The Human Equation is about falling in love, raising children, grieving, and working – walking through the world while paying attention. Written over more than fifty years, these poems speak plainly to what it means to be human. Selected poems from this book have been adapted into an acclaimed stage production and a festival-recognized film. Gossom writes with restraint and precision. His poems live in our physical world and echo plain speech, trusting the reader to find meaning without being led. Voices shift from lover to stranger, experience to reflection - yet remain disciplined, grounded, and unmistakably human. The result is intimacy without confession, lyricism without excess. Nature and the built world recur as parallel forces: rivers, beaches, factories, trails, hospitals, and homes. The poems move fluidly between the personal and the shared. They ask how memory marks us, how we endure change, and how a brief interaction can change us forever. A book for readers who value clarity, depth, and lasting resonance.