The Final Voicemails

This final collection of poems by Max Ritvo, selected and edited by Louise Glück, showcases his distinctive voice and creative vision. Ritvo was diagnosed with terminal cancer at sixteen and spent the following decade writing prolifically, leading to the publication of his debut, Four Reincarnations. The Final Voicemails, his second collection, engages with themes of pain, fear, and isolation accompanying long illness, while demonstrating his command of poetic craft and his engagement with the world. The collection presents multiple dimensions of life's end: physical decay and tedium, transformation described as alchemy, and death as both antagonist and part of self. The poems offer reflection on mortality while their vibrancy and humor suggest that death is not simply an ending.