Congratulations to my friend, Michael Hettich, for having his wonderful collection of poetry, Flock & Shadow, listed as a 2006 Top Ten Book of Poetry by Book Sense.
Besides being way too handsome, Michael has taught at Miami Dade College close to 20 years, and he's become a real fixture in the Miami writing scene. What's terrific for me is that I blurbed Michael's book:These generous poems proffer lessons on how we are to remain receptive to the world and how we yet may be transformed by it. Over the arc of Hettich's poetry, we come to the truest pleasure in poetry: we see, which is to attend, which is to praise.I did have a sentence about "not since Wallace Stevens has a poet taught me so much about how to see the world," but that didn't make it on the jacket.
Anyway, for a taste of his work, read his poem "Forgiveness" at Verse Daily.
Comments
He often writes prose poems that are truly magical, little metamorphoses about husbands, wives, children, very brilliant and language rich, very wise and honest and human. Whenever I feel a little dried up, bored with my own words, he's one of those poets who gets me back on track.
Yes, a good selection of prose poems are in this book; a couple of his chapbooks are nothing but them--Sleeping with the Lights On, from March Street Press is one of them.