The collection is big in breadth, big in length, big in scope; it's also big in heart and soul, big in humor and wisdom. Reading these dazzling poems, you'll hear echoes from near and far, from the distant past, the relatively recent past, and the present. The great and vaunted poets of the West show up from time to time in these pages as references, allusions, influences, sometimes as visiting characters, even as friends of the poet. Likewise, the literatures of the East make frequent allusive appearances: from the canon of the Indian subcontinent to-especially-the old Chinese poets Li Bo, Du Fu, and Han Shan (Cold Mountain). With phrasing like this, Kerry Shawn Keys establishes himself as one of the finest lyrical poets of our era:
all is forgotten,
and I am left at a loss, except for the crystal clear
Big Dipper which over and over again, leisurely
and benevolently quenches my unquenchable thirst."
