Working Out

He comes each week to loosen his limbs,

lose some weight, make the heart beat stronger,

longer.

This is a skilful collection by a poet well acquainted

with relative place: wherever a poem lives, it always

remembers its place in the world. Indeed, juxtapositions

and connections – with place, culture, and among

humans – are where the poet flexes his muscle – ‘works

out’ his ideas. The poet gazes outward and inward

with the same critical eye: he kindly refuses to judge

the humans in his poems, instead offering them up as

precise portraits, and even in dialect, never caricatures.

The poet is never far from the frame, sharing in our

delight, disappointment, upset, and wonder.