Review by Booklist Review
Galvin sets the transcendentalism of Thoreau to the music of the lonely, magnificent, and taunting expanses of the West, where scouring winds shred all pretense and frivolity, leaving only that which endures behind, and it is these stones, these bones, these burnished bits of hoarded wisdom that Galvin has been quietly celebrating over the course of two decades of writing. Now all three of his long unavailable books--Imaginary Timber (1980), God's Mistress (1984), and Elements (1988)--as well as Lethal Frequencies (1995) and a winning hand of new poems--are gathered together in one potent volume. Galvin's deeply respectful poetry reflects the lessons of sky and mountain, winter and spring, river and grass. Many poems are like koans, stark and evocative, while others are anecdotal or panegyric, and Galvin often writes in minor keys, melancholy and still, but this somberness is tempered by beauty, wonder, and gratitude. Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
