Echos of Frederico GarcÃa Lorca, Yiannis Ritsons, and Rumi add exoticism to this poet's deceptively simple style. Combining confession with analytical rigor, most of these poems are variations on classic themes, but they are driven by the particulars of politics, love, and family life. As the poems progress, repeated symbols—such as cars, coats, cups, rooms, bees, and roses—begin to hint that the poet has a secret recipe for contentment: home and hearth, travel, warm weather, and a belief in human growth.