George Northrup's artistic palette is dazzling and razor-sharp; each poem in this collection seduces the reader to want more, to be enlightened and/or entertained by his ability to strip away pretense and get to what matters. His virtuosic range seems nonstop; when you read these poems you sense his ear and heart mining for precise language and compassion. Several poems in this compilation have an articulated self that has learned not to take life too seriously.They are wry, fiercely funny, painfully truthful poems, and they lend a hand in creating this marvelous, diverse landscape of poetic inspiration. ~GLADYS L. HENDERSON, Suffolk County (NY) Poet Laureate 2017-2019