This book is beautifully produced in every way. If you can imagine poetry translated into a visual language, Arreguin's paintings are that... and more! Surely Arreguin is one of the NW's greatest living artists. This book is a truly wonderful introduction to his work.

Alfredo Arreguin's paintings are spectacular. Arreguin is one of the most important and awe-inspiring artists of the age. This book does an excellent job of detailing his life and art, as well as duplicating the intense colors of his canvasses. I cannot recommend this book enough. It would be a delight on the coffee table or as a gift.

If you want intense color, intricate patterns and a forever drifting, shifting visual experience, then this book is the Intro to Arreguin for you! There is a color plate on most pages and the text is in English and Spanish in side-by side columns.

This book is so low-priced because 1) the publishers found donors to underwrite this first edition 2) Arreguin is not making a dime in royalties off this book.

If you don't know Arreguin's work yet, just type "Alfredo Arreguin" into your browser's search box and you will get several relevant hits.

Try it, you'll like it!

I bought five copies: four copies for gifts, and one copy for me.

The story of Arreguin's childhood and family turmoil will add some optimism and empathy for troubled children of divorced parents, I hope.

chris matzen
Bremerton, WA 98312

She has a voice I've never heard before that I've needed to hear for a long, long time. There is unflinching lucidity here and honesty. "Each Bird Walking" takes no prioners. "The Hug" is. "If Poetry Were Not a Morality" is my memory too. The Fireman from Brooklyn glitters with hard truth

This is one of my favorite books of poetry. Ms. Gallagher's style (phrasing, imagery) is very unique and her voice is both strong and delicate. You will not be disappointed with this book.

This book is a collection of poems from "Under Stars," "Instructions to the Double," "Willingly," and several dozen new poems. It's lovely, a joy to read. My favorites are from "Under Stars," and the poem "Under Stars," is worth the price of the book itself. Tess Gallagher's poems are stunning and strong, with such delicate phrasing. A must-read if you enjoy poetry.

These poems are real. True searching is going on here, but if you don't take matters of the spirit and the heart seriously, or if you don't trust poetry to poke its fingers into the nettles and moist dark underbelly of truth, if you see poems as bit-players in larger insulated hothouse-flower tugs of war between this or that academically blood-drained 'school' or 'movement' then this book is not for you. If on the other hand you count yourself among the ranks of those still willing to be moved by the honest and carefully crafted language of a terrific poet, go find this damned book. Read especially 'Sonnets to my Daughters, 20 Years Into the Future' and see if you don't feel a noticeable shift in your chest, your heart being subtly changed.
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i had the awesome oppurtunity to have him as a professor. he is truly amazing. he i sone of the greats who is bringing poetry back to popular culture.

A lean and honest book. Skinner's concluding sonnet sequence ranks with any contemporary poet's for sheer quiet power.

This is a great book of poems written near the time of her husband's death. I read the review of this book and purchased it for a friend whose husband had died. Now, 5 years later, she still tells me how much she loved this book and how much it meant to her. This is a great book. It is particularly wonderful for someone who has lost their husband.

The passion and imagery contained in this book of highly personal poems astounds! I hope Ms. Gallagher's book will gain the recognition it deserves. To allow us to come so close to the poet seems to be a rarity in much of today's poetry. This incredible sharing will grab you and not let go. Our thanks to Ms. Gallagher . . .

Gallagher, whose decade-long relationship with the great short story writer Raymond Carver ended with Carver's early death to cancer in 1987, has written a masterpiece. Largely underrecognized, Moon Crossing Bridge has yet to receive its full due as one of the most deeply thoughtful and passionate poetic works on the subject of loss to emerge in recent memory. Gallagher has allowed the language that rose from her grief to carry her into the mystery that constitutes the borderland between the dead and those left behind. Her words sway like the tough threads of a hammock strung between the two worlds, holding us aloft as we allow ourselves to risk belief in paradoxical truths: that in the poetic universe to which Gallagher holds fast, a loved one can be truly with us and truly not with us at once, and loss and horror and delight can coexist in a strange harmony. In Gallagher's extraordinary book, the dark basin of terrible loss is not only inhabited, it is rich in hues and textures and possibilities. Using images culled as much from her travels around the world with Carver as from her years spent both with and without him in the Pacific Northwest, with this volume Gallagher has given a rare gift to those of us with loss in our backgrounds. She has journeyed as a shaman does, to map that enduring human trek from overwhelming pathos to multidimensional, even joyful, insight -- with unfailing courage and honesty. One day Gallagher will be seen for the unparalleled talent she is. For now, we who read and do the work to understand her words can be among a privaleged group of fierce and well-rewarded fans.

_Carver Country_ is a fascinating look at Raymond Carver's personal life. Warning: one feels like a snoop reading through this book. There are photos of Ray's desk, complete with ashtray and paperweights; his childhood home; various landmarks in and around Yakima, WA and Arcata, CA; and portraits of Ray's family and friends. These last are especially powerful. But aside from the photos, there are words - unpublished letters written by Ray, an excerpt from a 1983 interview for _Poetry_ magazine (which includes my favorite line - "That's the last Christmas you'll ever ruin for us!"), and a substantial introduction by Tess Gallagher. It is wonderful and strange to see the places that were turning points in Carver's life, and the accompanying text is haunting. Gallagher's introduction is especially fine, and worth reading many times. Get this book.

Carver was a wonderful, wonderful writer. It's great to see his house, his study, his wife and friends photographed so beautifully. It's great to read his stories, his poems, more than 10 years after his death and to find them as powerful as ever. This book is very moving.

This collection of short stories is one of the best i have ever read. Mostly set in the northwest Gallagher captures the ideals and characteristics of most northwest residents. Her stories reflect the mindset of this part of the country. She writes about logging, wildlife, and just general everyday life. She is the best.

Tess Gallagher is a blessing. Readers who have experienced a rich essential quality of living will find the resonate voice of an ageless girl underneath powerfully assembled words. This collection was handed to me by a stranger in a coffee shop in Tacoma, Washington, who said only, "here, have a book of poetry." On a quick reading it seemed like superficial, self indulgent, girlish poetry. But this is not the I, me, you, we, weep at me stuff that fills chap books and keeps vanity presses in business. In this case it only serves to, very cleverly and even handedly, disguise, or vale, the soul of writer. Later the work began to unfold its complexity and came to life right out of the page. The balanced, well tempered blending of the metaphorical and the concrete and a fairly consistant cadence, the ability to play with syntax and meaning, twisting words and sentences into unpredictable and surprising contortions only enhance the necessary meaning of the work and give it life in the minds eye where all good poetry is born.

Tess is soft, sweater soft, but don't let that fool you. She is solid, like a rock. A remarkable woman.

Gallagher's The Lover of Horses is an honest, yet graceful portrait of what makes us who we are. The title story shows the connection between human beings in a very powerful way. In my opinion this is the most well-written story in the text, demonstrative of Gallagher's immense talent in writing stories that are powerful because of their spareness. "Recourse" demonstrates the importance of living day-to-day. "The Woman Who Saved Jesse James" is a story about finding all the "selves" that we are and becoming the "self" we want to be. Each of these stories illustrates the process of interior evaluation we go through as humans. They ask "Which part of us is the essential self?" Gallagher opens up the power of choice and how this affects who we become. Each story connects with our "humanness", as we see that grace comes to the humans in Gallagher's stories, even in the most unexpected ways. Julia M. Hawley

This is a marvelous collection of contemporary love poetry. In tone and style it is very reminiscent of Pablo Neruda's 21 Love Poems. The poems not only treat romantic love in its myriad varieties but also capture the female passion and perspecitve in love. I have long adored the book. Indeed, it was the first collection of poems that brought poetry to life for me. In particular, "Your Hands which I love to Kiss" is my favorite poem as it depicts the strange subtleties of love. If you are at all a chronic romantic, I highly recommend this work.

... She's obviously one of the best, undiscovered writers in the world!! She first came to my attention through my fiance, who'd torn a poem from a 1997 edition of the "New Yorker" for keeping. After the events of September 11th, she was going through a pile of papers and came across that same poem. To her [and subsequently, myself] the poem resonated deeply with what we were going through. The name of that poem is "In the City of What Once Was" and it appears in this brilliant collection. Her work is alternately beautiful and mournful and it speaks eloquently of her experiences in a war-ravaged land [Ms. Ursa's work has been translated from her native Romanian]. She is at once lyrical, sad and evocative. I urge anyone interested in great poetry to BUY THIS BOOK. I'd also recommend that the major American publishers take a good look at her work!!!