What I didn’t find in The Echoing Years—some really “wow” poems—I did find in a much slimmer book, Jen Currin’s newest collection, Hagiography (Coach House). Hagiography (the word literally means the biography of a saint or venerated person) starts with death and ends with life. Currin’s verse is mysterious, full-blooded and packed with juicy lines. Here the world is populated with fortune stockings, blood dancers, bruised hats and paper brides. At times her poems are too mysterious—I would have appreciated a small amount of narrative to string the fresh imagery together—but no matter. These are good poems.