In Kevin Goodan's second collection, nature is equally cruel to all, and yearning is subsumed by an acceptance as terrible as it is beautiful. These poems are ecstatic, musical prayers, finding God in the details as well as the void.

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Ducks in a daze with mourning doves--Sweetness of the hay fresh mown, the cloudsSlowly stacking, the constantRevectoring of flocks among weeds, A dampness to northern aspects of fieldsSlanting toward the river, workmenSilent, workwomen finding shade, what remainsOf harvest not mattering as one thing bears downUpon the other--some wind in ornamental trees, The waxy mane of the whitest mare, whitestFrom the oncoming weather-light, the foalThat does not shy from the hand that gelded it.

Kevin Goodan's first book, In the Ghost-House Acquainted (Alice James Books) won the 2005 L. L. Winship/PEN New England Award. His poems have appeared in Ploughshares and American Poet, among others, and he has taught creative writing at the University of Connecticut and Wesleyan University. He is an assistant professor at Lewis-Clark State College, and he lives on a bluff overlooking the Clearwater River.