Standing Naked

Jim Heynen's poems resonate with the same sense of mystery and humor that characterize his famous tales. In one poem he writes of a tornado that transforms a sow into a goddess; in another, he gives us a witty discussion of eternity. He reminds us what it is like to fall in and out of love, to live with children, to work with our hands painting the house, putting in a window, building a cradle. But perhaps Heynen's most precious gift to readers of this book is his special ability to evoke the wonders of creation: those first three minutes of life for a newborn piglet or the absolute awe and terror we feel beholding the approach of a lightening storm. Divided about equally between the very best poems from his previous collections and new poems written over the last decade, Heynen's book speaks with an authority and maturity that can only come with age. These are poems that celebrate contemporary life but with a decidedly midwestern and rural sensibility.