Poetry. Tom Pickard's poems are by turns erotic and political, pastoral and urban. They make use of everyday speech with formal inventiveness and sophistication. He is the author of six individual volumes of poetry, including FUCKWIND, available at SPD. Song sings itself in these poems. Their heart is clarity, spoken. Why shouldn't the music lead and the heart follow-and mind be the wonder of their witness? This is a great poetry made of such common life, each word a step along the way-Robert Creeley.