Amazon.com (ISBN 0060182512, Hardcover)

Robert Bly's Morning Poems is a window into the life of the mind, the poetic process, and the beautifully and poignantly prosaic way our lives pass as a series of (mostly) ordinary days. The poems are soft-spoken and unassuming, each written as a component of Bly's morning ritual. "A Week of Poems at Bennington," for example, includes meditations on such lofty subjects as "The Dog's Ears" and "What the Buttocks Think." At the same time, the poems often address weighty matters: aging, friendship, and death. It is one of Bly's poetic virtues that he is able to write about such subjects (following the example of William Stafford) with a delicate and unpretentious touch. Consider the homespun phrasing and deeply felt acceptance of life's twists and turns in "The Resemblance Between Your Life and a Dog": I never intended to have this life, believe me-- / it just happened. You know how dogs turn up / At a farm, and they wag but can't explain. / It's good if you can accept your life..."