The poems are straightforward, intensely lyrical and totally accessible. Whether he is addressing his departed friend, the poet Ernesto Trejo, or the great swell off the Pacific Ocean that haunts his dreams, the voice is always the same, modest and direct. This is a humble poetry of great truths . . . -- Philip Levine, writing in Ploughshares Christopher Buckley's gift for wide-ranging thinking meshes so gracefully with lovingly tender details, he feels like a companion voice for all time--a Hikmet, a Neruda, yes. -- Naomi Shihab Nye Not the East Coast satirical novelist . . . this Christopher Buckley has published several poetry books and anthologies that have won him numerous accolades. . . Like Thom Gunn, Gary Snyder, and other poets whose informal style of philosophical questing complements their easy intimacy with the natural, feeling world, Buckley's new volume deserves an honored place on the shelves of well-rounded libraries and bookstores. --F. Josephine Arrowood -- FOREWORD These are poems of immortality and extinction that can still make you smile . . . (Buckley) has an exquisite ear for language and a gutsy way of blending bravado with humility . . .. no concept is overstated--it's all marvelously fresh. --LIBRARY JOURNAL This is fluid, hypnotic writing, at once nostalgic and knowing . . . achieving a moody grandeur. --POETRY