Earth's Appetite

These poems reflect an astute awareness of associations across time. A beetle crossing a tennis court brings to mind an infant crawling across the floor one who's now asking for the keys to the family car. A jar of golden honey draws readers into the murmur of bees and the scent of basswood flowers. In Earth's Appetite, Hasse offers a lyrical paean to re-roofing a house and a humorous description of how a dog and its unemployed owner spend a day. Her extended ode to feet, "twin girls dressed alike," possesses a Neruda-like simplicity and charm. The book shows Hasse's longstanding mastery of striking imagery. "Rung by rung down the ladder of my backbone," she writes, and "earth like a love tilts toward and away." The book as a whole reminds us of the quirky ways that lives unfold, strengthening or breaking connections, offering unexpected turns and recurrent, familiar themes.