In this rich collection, W. S. Di Piero seeks the spirit and substance of illumination in all its forms. He finds meaning, or shows us how we attempt to do so, in the rituals and events that mark our year–the Fourth of July, Halloween, New Year’s Eve–and in the ordinary activities of mowing, dancing, drinking, trying to stay warm. “The Kiss” recounts how, as a young man, the poet was not called to the priesthood; in “Prayer Meeting,” he recalls watching his mother iron, with her “hopeless routine longing,” and declares, “I wanted more than what I prayed for.”

For all their simplicity, Di Piero’s direct, often conversational turns of phrase reveal a world aflame with troubles, with love, with surprising lyrical epiphanies.

Didn’t You Say Desire Is

like the elephant fog

shredded north

a white sun going down

Bessemers fired

through clouds horizoned

on my dog-eared stack

It feels good and right

to waste earnest hours

of an early evening’s

daylight saving time

in uncertainty and want

these cranky climates

changing in us while we

haven’t started dinner yet.

From the Hardcover edition.