Fontanel's Close. (Original writing)

Two dynamics imbue this volume: relationships with others provide much of the subject material, and the act of discovery provides the forward momentum, the energy leading from line to line. In the first section, Walking to the River, this Staffordesque discovery reigns as the poems meander among a varied landscape. Loss and living with loss bind the second section, The First Elegy, a series of narrative poems, which use for their geography the American Southwest. In the third section, The Painter, the trials of love may be seen through the tale of a painter whose paintings sometimes mirror his love life. The fourth section, The Second Elegy, is a dramatic monologue spoken by a man who, during the course of the poem, goes through the grieving process. In Fontanel's Close, the last and most intimate section, the relationship between a mother and a son is recreated, explored, and, above all, praised.