The Real Cause for Your Absence

<p>Curtis Bauer is precise about birds be they crows chimney swifts sparrows swallows starlings cardinals doves or grackles. Like Robert Frost he knows the phoebe doesn't weep for-like him-he is deeply versed in country things. But Bauer is wide-ranging and doesn't make a moral distinction between Iowa and New York any more than he does between American and Spain where he lives part of the year. He is one of the most tender new poets I know yet when the subject calls for it he can be as harsh as necessary for he is a keen observer and he is sane a sane realist with a vivid imagination.</p><p> -Gerald Stern author of <em>In Beauty Bright</em></p>