Some of these poems are smack-you-between-the-eyes powerful. Mighty content in a few words. But the brief memoir with which the book concludes was even more moving, for me. It feels like oral history transcribed...poignant, evocative, affirmative, sometimes sad but always triumphant. ( )

The poetry here is beautifully written and worth reading--pleasantly accessible, but lasting and touching as well. My favorite poem from the collection was called, simply, "Salt". Most are short, simple, and worth a re-read. The memoir I was less satisfied with. It seemed to lack the flavor and the honesty of the poems, strangely enough, and came off as more of an exercise than anything else. Still, I recommend the poetry. The memoir may well be meant to be prose poetry, but I didn't find it up to Clifton's normal standards in Any respect. ( )