A masterful suite of poems which takes the reader on an Odyssean voyage across the globe. Seeking a quiet, reclusive existence, Stroud (Signatures, 1982) borrows his title from the Chinese poet Han-Shan. Sixty six-line poems that make up the first section also owe their brevity and philosophy to the Chinese masters. They are uneven at best, with too many images and visions stretch credibility: "a half-circle of cockroaches,/ the color of burnt butter, sitting in full lotus, antennae/ weaving mantras." These pieces are at least sincere portraits of fleeting selves. Poems in the next sectionAhomages, responses, and loose translationsAoffer little promise. Yet Stroud is also capable of memorable poems, as proved by a long prefatory poem and the poems in the third and final section (dealing mostly with his father's death and the breakup of his marriage). Here there is no posturing, no attempt to speak in any voice other than his own. Unfortunately, less than a third of a book isn't enough to recommend it.ARochelle Ratner, formerly of "Soho Weekly News," New York Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. After The Opera Alam Al-mithral Alchemy: Final Music All Through The Night The Mockingbird Sang And For This Also I Am Ashamed And I Raised My Hand In Return Autumn Auvergne Babette Bible Biophysics By The Rivers Of Babylon Can You Hear It? Cezanne And The Noumenal World Chaos Theory: Equation Come And Get It Comice Craft Crossing Over And Back Crossing The Island Death In The Tehachapi Die Schwermut Directions Dissolving Earth Angel Every Summer The Riots Ezra Under The Constellation Of The Dragon Feral The First Law Of Thermodynamics From Time To Time Turning My Head To See Go Fetch It! Grief Hacedor He Asked, And We Began The Train Into The Heart He Told Me To Come Back And See Hear That Phone Ringing? Sounds Like A Long Distance Call Homage To Life Homage To Night Homage To Rolf Jacobsen Homage To The Black Walnut In Downtown Santa Cruz Homage To The Presence Of The Mystery Among Us Homage To The Word-hoard Homage: Doo-wop Homage: Summer/winter, Shay Creek; In The Shining Homage: Summer/winter, Shay Creek; Manna How Green The Leaves In Sunlight Are I Was Not Prepared For The Death Of My Father Idle In Puerto Vallarta Once In Sepia In The Body Of The Dragon In The Dragon's Mouth In The Maze Garden Of The Generalife In This Flesh Islands Knots The Life Of A Dog Lines Listening To Issa Listening To Leon Lost Love In The Classical World Love Like A Catch Of Fire Love's More Difficult Translation The Magician Matar La Noche Memories At The Movies Mercy, Mercy Missing My Father Died Night In Day The Nightingales Of Andalucia No Lexicon Notes Toward A 19th-century Painting Of Sappho/ [shards] /sabi Oh Yes The Orchard The Others, O Lord, For My Time Has Not Yet Come Our Blood Is Red Coral, We Build A Bridge Over The Abyss Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Boy Provenance Questions And Answers Reading Cavafy Alone In Bed Rock Me On The Waters Seizure Shape-shifter; 1957 Shape-shifter; 1987 Shine Simple Gifts (2) Sky Diving The Song Of Divorce Steps To The River That Life Is A Circle Of Heraclitean Fire These Nights, Passing Through This Waiting Venom Waiting For The Barbarians Waking On The Shining Path What She Told Me In Orland, California Where Language Fails The Words Of Chilam Balam The Years Like Crows Coming Home To Roost -- Table of Poems from Poem Finder® Joseph Stroud is the author of four books of poetry, and his poems have been widely anthologized as well as featured on Garrison Keillor's The Writer's Almanac. Stroud lives in Santa Cruz, California, and at Shay Creek in the Sierra Nevada mountains. Used Book in Good Condition