In his first book of poetry in twenty years Michael J. Rosen captures life in the foothills of the Appalachians. Every Species of Hope Georgics Haiku and Other Poems uses a variety of poetic forms as well as Rosens own penandink drawings to give voice to the predicaments of living among other creatures who share a plot of land we think we claim as home. The poems are an attempt at homeostasis that balancing act every creature works at every hour of every daya way of living peacefully expending the right energy in the most productive ways avoiding or deflecting trouble gravitating toward sources of fulfillment and contentment. At the center of this book is a suite of poems inspired by Virgils Georgics or poems of pastoral instruction. In Rosens case he is more the student than the teacher. Likewise five short sections of haiku continue his meditation onor mediation ofart and nature. As he has written Haiku provides a brief and mirrorlike calm in the choppy watersin the undertowof current events a stillness in time where more than our singular lives can be reflected. Illustrated with two dozen pages from the authors own journal Every Species of Hope is the consummation of decades of observation humility and awe. show more