This little book is a wonderful volume, filled with selections from the work of the nine poet laureates of the state of Alabama. Southerners will find something of themselves within these pages, and those outside the South will find value here as well: wisdom, works to provoke thought, and those that will bring a smile.

Helen Blackshear, the eighth poet laureate, has done a wonderful job in the selections that went into These I Would Keep. I highly recommend this book.