I am surprised to find no other reviews here of this special book, a collection that should be read.This is a wonderful volume, by a poet so at ease with forms,with his own voice of casual,yet complex insight,with the balancing of colloquial tone and wisdom,the poems really speak wonders. I bought this book after reading his "Echo" in the Best American Poems of 1998, John Hollander's edition. (Checked the back promptly--how to find more of this poet's work!) I think what moves me most about these, beyond the mastery of formal technique made to look so natural, organic really, is the honesty. The pain expressed in many of these poems is familiar -- love, loss, longing,-- but Cummins seems to see into the pain of all the players, and especially into the pain of women, (which startled me,the recognition of my own experience so perfectly expressed by a male poet) and I loved the way he captures the affections and bonds between men and women who willingly suffer at eachother's hands, and the pained humor he has in describing the failings of this "I". "Fling" is fabulous, the strained comedy of an infidelity that should be assuaging but turns ridiculous; "Portals" is a ladder of insights, each stanza taking me deeper into the experience of praying, loving, lying,ego; and my favorite, "The Husband", which never esteems one partner's experience over the other's. I learned a lot from this poet: to admire formal mastery more than I have,the possibilities of it for a modern sensibility, and mostly, how to view others with compassion. In truth, I feel I understand the experience of my own loved ones more because of this book, and will be kinder to them as a result. These poems do what poems should -- change things. I hope many others -- new poets, experienced poets, and lovers of poetry, and skeptics of poetry, will read this book.