A series of verse letters to the English poet Edward Thomas, killed in the First World War, forms the centerpiece of this remarkable collection. Like most of the poems, it expresses a deep concern for England, past and present. Other poems, whether lyrical or narrative, comic or contemplative, explore love and fatherhood, triumph and longing. Some are adventures from the known to the ineffable; some draw on the poet's travels and his time living in Amherst, Massachusetts.