Reviewed by Anonymous,
11/19/2021
In this long-awaited collection, Bob Elmendorf takes us on a journey where the real world shimmers like a dream world as we see it through his vision. This deep and detailed journey begins in the womb he shares with his brother and leads finally to a radiation treatment center where he tells the next patient that he's warmed the table for her. But this is not a book of autobiographical poems; it is a lyrical book of things observed in all their radiant thingness. Flip open any page, and see what spills out. Snails, blossoms, birds. Stones, belts, coins. Things hidden, things discovered, things left behind. He teaches us to look at things so closely that we feel them. These richly detailed, songlike poems are the work of a poet who is blessed with considerable skill, emotional depth, keen perception, and natural empathy.
—Joan Murray, former Poet in Residence, New York State Writers Institute.