ROBERT BENSE'S voice conveys a kaleidoscopeof human emotion set against vivid imagery inthis beautiful book of poetry. Backed by a vastgeographic landscape, Bense paints a picture forthe reader of the everyday in not-so-everydaylocations.His is a life well traveled, and he weaves atapestry of places both ordinary and extraordinary, uncovering the simple pleasures and painsthat we all experience. In "Leveled Out," hereminisces about a place that once was. "I never go back but think of thingswe left behind. Your footsteps on the bricks. Fugitive prints of bodies lyingin the orchard grass. Clues gone stale explaining us to us." Arguments in aPublic Space is a poetic delight."