<DIV><p>&ldquo;Among other things, Shepherd has always been an elemental poet. His work abounds with the imagery and motifs of water and fire, and while those elements are important here, it is air and earth that are the more dominant elements in this collection. . . .</p><p>Clay, red clay in particular, recurs several times throughout the collection as a motif of earth. It is the substance of creation, but always of impermanent things, whether heroes or Babylonian statues with feet of clay, or of things durable but fragile, such as the cuneiform tablets of &lsquo;A Parking Lot Just Outside the Ruins of Babylon.&rsquo;&rdquo;<BR> &mdash;Robert Philen, from the Foreword</p></DIV>