Lost Sherpa of Happiness

To ken the craft of Ken Craft, reader, open here and hear the music of a (mostly hidden) bird in every poem. And notice the exquisite balance of humor and poignancy, compression and conversation, artifice and clarity. Notice the way these poems force us to slow way down, and notice. Notice that happiness is simply paying attention; that that's the happiness these poems search for, consistently find, and expertly offer up to us. -Paul Hostovsky, author of Is That What That Is and Selected Poems Ken Craft is a master of metaphor-spade-cast skies, open-windowed life, window screens whispering their meshed tongues, Swiss cheese's negative space-with the originality of a bracing tonic that affords a worldly perspective that is engagingly transparent. Reminiscent of the best work of Thoreau, James Wright or Wendell Berry, Craft's poems astutely sum up situations ranging from dying frogs to the way a Maine lake can be viewed by changing positions. A marriage of nature and philosophy, they are a delight to the imagination and the intellect. -Joan Colby, author of Kithara Prize-winner, Ribcage Few poets meditate as beautifully as Ken Craft. This is a book to be savored slowly, lingering over intricate turns of language that lead us to contemplate this sweet, brief life. These poems rise to a bottomless sky only to be consumed by the cold logic of universe and stars, of Einstein and God. -Ruth Bavetta, author of Flour, Water, Salt