Firewood and Ashes

Encompassing forms as diverse as the free-verse lyric, the sonnet sequence, the verse letter, and the meditative monologue, this selection from Ben Howard's six previous books demonstrates the breadth of his cultural awareness and the depth of his poetic achievement. Ranging in locale from Eastern Iowa to Western New York to Dublin, Ireland, these present-centered but historically minded poems integrate the conventions of Western verse with the insights of Eastern meditative practice. Ben Howard is a poet, essayist, classical guitarist, and longtime Zen practitioner. These strands of his life are interwoven in his poems, which evince a sensibility keenly aware of impermanence, acutely alert to linguistic subtleties, and deeply attuned to the sonorities of words. Ben Howard is Emeritus Professor of English at Alfred University in New York. "Ben Howard writes a flawless blank verse, which he often hinges onto a narrative structure in an almost novelistic way."--Rain Taxi