Gerry Sloan's poetry "orchestrates a life of observation and attention, of figurative ideas captured in verse, and of love for the things of this world. It is divided into suites linked thematically and delicately by family, politics, history, music, love, and loss. 'I think about the crazy / creatures we've become- / our constant contradictions, / predilection for metaphor- / towns named after conditions / for the lives we share and are.' Gerry Sloan's command of metaphor, tone, and rhythm together with his keen eye for the contradictions of everyday life make for a powerful volume" (quote by Zohreh T. Sullivan). Gerry Sloan is a professor of music at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, and his poetry has appeared in such journals as Yarrow, Negative Capability, The Nebraska Review, North Dakota Quarterly, The Christian Science Monitor, and the Anthology of Magazine Verse & Yearbook of American Poetry.