Res ipsa loquitur --the thing speaks for itself--as the lawyers say. But does it? Not in Michael Lieberman's new book of poems, Bonfire of the Verities . What speaks here is doubt and the commitment to cast aside the apparent truths we all accumulate.  Those verities are what are tossed onto Lieberman's bonfire:  It is here I heap the platitudes I cannot keep. He grounds his struggle precisely: The coordinates of the country of doubt are 29º, 45' N / 95º, 21' W, which are those of Houston, his adopted city. It is an unusual poet who is willing to pare away belief and accept that truths--received or earned--must be discarded as we face the unknowable mystery. In the end what Lieberman wrests from the void is the recognition that there is no ultimate choice but dissolution: This fire burns in me-- it cannot set me free it leaves me ash, not tree. And yet ash is both residue and tree, offering the possibility that dissolution is a kind of redemption. "As I read Bonfire of the Verities I thought of Kierkegaard, his "Knights of infinite resignation" a "Knights of faith" ... the struggles of a mind of great intellect to find credence to life's many dogmas and much like Dante's Virgil, allowing us readers to join the quest. I also am reminded of the voice found in the poems of Yehuda Amichai, the gentle use of irony with the juxtaposition of a mature, ingenious poet's deep readings of history with his own life experiences. Lieberman's marvelous insightful musings are a gift of intellect and spirit to all, who by reading them enter their light." --David M. Parsons 2011 Texas Poet Laureate. "At once disarming and provocative, these poems weave science, religion and philosophy through the artifacts of life and relics of history to wonderful effect. We see a contingent world where unexplored connections between knowledge, dendrites, axons, and memories emerge in a compelling manner. This is important work." --Joseph R. Larsen,  Poet and First Amendment Lawyer "At once disarming and provocative, these poems weave science, religion and philosophy through the artifacts of life and relics of history to wonderful effect. We see a contingent world where unexplored connections between knowledge, dendrites, axons, and memories emerge in a compelling manner. This is important work." --Joseph R. Larsen,  Poet and First Amendment Lawyer -- Joseph R. Larsen As I read Bonfire of the Verities I thought of Kierkegaard, his "Knights of infinite resignation" and "Knights of faith"...the struggles of a mind of great intellect to find credence to life's many dogmas and much like Dante's Virgil, allowing us readers to join the quest. I also am reminded of the voice found in the poems of Yehuda Amichai, the gentle use of irony with the juxtaposition of a mature, ingenious poet's deep readings of history with his own life experiences. Lieberman's marvelous insightful musings are a gift of intellect and spirit to all, who by reading them enter their light. --David M. Parsons, 2011 Texas Poet Laureate At once disarming and provocative, these poems weave science, religion and philosophy through the artifacts of life and relics of history to wonderful effect. We see a contingent world where unexplored connections between knowledge, dendrites, axons and memories emerge in a compelling manner. This is important work. --Joseph R. Larsen, Poet and First Amendment Lawyer MIKE LIEBERMAN'S most recent collection of poems Bonfire of the Verities was released in the fall of 2013. His first novel Never Surrender--Never Retreat, A Novel of Medical Politics in Texas appeared in 2012. He lives in Houston with his wife, the writer Susan A. Lieberman. He is a former research physician and molecular biologist. In 2014 Texas Review Press will release two new novels, The Lobsterman's Daughter and The Women of Harvard Square, A Novel in Short Stories.