James Cummins's first book of poems, The Whole Truth, became known throughout much of the poetry world as the "Perry Mason sestinas." His second book, Portrait in a Spoon, was chosen by Richard Howard for the James Dickey Prize Contemporary Poetry Series. His latest and most accomplished work is collected in Then & Now, which reflects the same inventiveness and wit evident in his earlier books, with a deepening of tone and spirit. The result is a collection of poems filled with feeling and with Cummins's signature anguished humor. If the language of poetry is a way into a hall of mirrors