"There isn't a flaw or misstep or a lack of humility on a single page. . . . I invite you to turn to just one page, to any page, and to let what's there wash over you with its beauty, its clarity, its precision, and its delicately balanced emotional weight." Ted Kooser"Robert Hedin is one of the quietest, most spiritually sensate poets of our time." Olga Broumas"Every poem is a creation myth," writes poet Robert Hedin. This long overdue retrospective, spanning forty years of patient and painstaking work, highlights Hedin's original poems, translations of Norwegian poets, and includes the aphoristic essay "Field Notes." Hedin's poemselegant, spare, and devoid of artificedetail themes of Midwestern life, the natural world, ocean liners, and airships. A profound, essential volume.Unable to Write, I Decide to Move Out with the Finches This morning I'm going to drag my deskOut into the backyard and set it downBy the birdbath, near the flowerbedOvergrown with weeds. And the blackLeather armchair where I like to readI'll lug out under the two young maples,Along with the Persian rug, the tallGoose-necked lamp, the books, the CDs,Even the huge unruly fern in the corner.I'm going to haul it all outside, outInto the open air where it's quiet,Where I won't be bothered . . .Robert Hedin is the Founding Director of the Anderson Center for the Arts, and author of eight books of poetry and several translations from the Norwegian. He lives in Red Wing, Minnesota.
