Former U.S. poet laureate Daniel Hoffman, a national treasure who lived in Swarthmore, always had his next project planned—and even the one after that. His latest collection, fittingly titled Next to Last Words, was published within days of his death this past March at age 89. It offers short, sharp formal and free-verse poems about the cosmos, nature, violence, love and grief, with allusions to Edgar Allan Poe, always one of his favorite subjects.