The America many people would like to believe in is convincingly expressed in this fourth volume of poems by a writer close to the heart of things. The sanity and eloquence of these poems spring from the land in Kentucky where Wendell Berry was born, married, lives, farms, writes, and teaches. From classic pastoral themes both lyrical and reflective, to a verse play, to a dramatic narrative and the manic, entertaining, prescient ravings of Berry's Mad Farmer, these poems show the unity of language and consciousness, the skill and sensitivity, that have placed Wendell Berry at the front rank of contemporary American poets.