Earthly Measures Signed

The absence of God and the abundant presence of human desire permeate Edward Hirsch's fourth collection of poetry and form a passionately important inquiry into the nature of worship and manifestations of the divine. His experience of place is both sensual and archaeological--as he soaks up the colors of the sky and draws upon the earth for inspiration, he also derives strength from "(feeling) the centuries welling up beneath him." As he considers the relationship between instances of spiritual revelation and the everyday realities of irony and brutality, Hirsch concludes that it is the earth that needs our full attention and prayers, "because/ it is only earth--limited, sensuous/ earth that is so fleeting, so real."