AFTER THE FIRE is a collection of essays that are compiled by a gifted writer. "The Blind World" is one essay worth the price of the book. Mr. Zimmer was a "guinea-pig" GI during the Atomic Bomb tests in Nevada,in the mid-1950's. He writes that when he covered his eyes with his hands, his hands became an x-ray because his company was so close to the fiery blast of the bomb. That one chapter would make one great movie.

But Mr. Zimmer also writes with insight and passion about his many loves, including his wife Suzanne, and his first-hand experiences with great jazz musicians, including Lester Young, Art Tatum, Thelonius Monk and Sarah Vaughn. Zimmer writes, "They even stuffed whole bands--Basie, Kenton, Herman--onto those small stages." That essay, "Young Jazz" is one of the best pieces written about American music this side of Down Beat.

We also learn that Paul Zimmer has had a long literary career as editor and director of several publishing houses, where he introduced numerous writers, including Gary Gildner, Richard Shelton, Gary Soto, Norman Dubie, Jack Anderson,and Bin Ramke, to the literary world.

This is a finely honed, remarkably insightful and humane collection of essays. I thought I would read one essay, put the book aside and savor it, but found myself reading the entire book in one sitting.

For readers tired of the first-person lyric so popular in our day, read Paul Zimmer, who must share this ennui. Through his career, Zimmer has been one of our finest Persona poets and one of our best Character poets, in the tradition of Edwin Arlington Robinson. Here, collected for the first time, are his wonderful Zimmer poems, his many poems celebrating eccentric characters, and his fine traditional nature lyrics (which don't neglect the dark side of nature as well). Richly humorous in some poems, moving in others (a fine writer of love poetry), you'll laugh richly and feel deeply with this end-of-the-alphabet poet, among our finest.

This short book has one powerful poem after another. Zimmer's images pull you into each poem, as the persona of "The Zimmer" comes of age and learns about life. It's a cohesive collection that reads like a story, filled with the joys and sorrows of life. Celebrating things such as beer and love, and lamenting the aging of a father and the selling of a childhood home, this book will have you smiling on one page and then bring you close to tears a few pages later.