These poems exhibit the range of Sam Hamill's celebrated practice and vision, from philosophical and discursive elements to the intensely lyrical, from his continuing poems of praise (and elegies) for fellow poets to the clear influence of the Zen classics he has so notably translated.

"Well known as the founder of Copper Canyon Press and the head of the protest group Poets Against the War, Hamill has also proven himself as a prolific poet and translator. This 16th volume of accssible, outspoken free verse pays frequent homage to Japanese and Chinese classics, and to the 20th-century poets Hammill has admired: Martin Espada, Kenneth Rexroth and especially Denise Levertov. Like his heroes, Hammill presents a model of honest, consistent, undisguised political engagement: he articulates not only a vision of peace with justice, not only his relish for work to achieve that vision, but his sense of the role that poetry can play: 'We need the tale/ that spins the spell that gives us/ eyes to see.' He understands, too, that even the most energetic and committed poetry of protest may not always seize the day. Yet the power sympathetic readers are likely to find in his new collection has little to do with self-doubt, and everything to do with the sense that poetry can speak out clearly and try to change the world at least a little bit: 'Here's to a poets' revolution,' he toasts, 'to the joy/ of being always on the side that loses.' (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"What I like about Sam Hamill's poetry is its not being in the least laid-back and cool. In it, tears, laughter, anger and sorrow contend, all set forth with passionate candor. Hamill's deep intimacy with classical literature of the West and the Orient gives many of his poems a graceful concision — as in the second part of his book, 'Lessons from Thieves.' 'My poetry will very likely die with me,' the poet declares; but that isn't going to happen if Ezra Pound was right and 'In poetry, only emotion endures.'" X. J. Kennedy

"Throughout Sam Hamill's large body of work, there are poems that reach the sublime. They are powerful, combining an exquisite sensibility with directness of speech. Some of his lines are at the heart of poetry, and to read them is pure joy: 'Sustained by a few metaphors' — / the tale, the telling,/ the mind’s music, the heart's vision.'" Grace Schulman

"These poems delight, surprise, and teach important lessons of love, compassion, generosity of spirit and ultimate patience, which the great teacher called 'the supreme austerity.' Because of this, and because Sam Hamill is one of the essential poetic and political voices of our time, these are necessary, no, essential poems that you will go back to again and again." Bruce Weigl

Sam Hamill is the author of fourteen volumes of original poetry, has published three collections of essays and two-dozen volumes translated from ancient Greek, Latin, Estonian, Japanese, and Chinese. He is the founding editor of Copper Canyon Press and the Director of Poets Against War. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.