Elegy in Reverse

"In these lean and loaded 'Load every rift with ore' poems, Mike James makes a world and its people so real that you think you know it and them, and even though you don't you do, which is what good poems are supposed to, but rarely, do. This is a taut and splendid collection."-Thomas Lux, author of Child Made of Sand and Split Horizon"Elegy in Reverse is a terrific book of miracles, redefined-a book that travels the gravel driveway of vernacular speech to the delicate poignancy of the house light gleaming. With sure-handed short lines and true wit, James' voice is so down-to-earth that it splits open into the surreal-and so surreal that we find ourselves coming home-to the great here and now, brimming with wild apples, sadness, and burning days." -Jan Beatty, author of The Switching Yard and Red Sugar "I like his sense of language and the way the lines fall off the page. I know the people in these poems." -Kell Robertson, author of A Horse Called Desperation and Bear Crossing