<DIV><p>"A lyricist at heart, McGriff is a masterful maker of metaphor."?<I>Third Coast</I></p><p>"There is majestic beauty in these descriptions, and it is clear that McGriff honors this place as a place?not as mere setting, but as a distinct element of his verse."?Gently Read Literature</p><p>Michael McGriff's second full-length collection explores interior landscapes and illustrates life in a rural community in the Pacific Northwest. Whether tender or hard-hitting, McGriff juxtaposes natural images of deep forests, creeks, coyotes, and crows against the harsher oil-grease realities of blue-collar life, creating poems that read like folk tales about the people working in grain mills, forests, and factories.</p><p><B>"New Civilian"</B></p><p><I>The new law says you can abandon your child<BR>in an emergency room,<BR>no questions asked. The young father<BR>carries the sleeping boy<BR>through the hospital doors.<BR>Later, alone, parked at the boat basin,<BR>he takes a knife from his pocket,<BR>cuts an unfiltered cigarette in two,<BR>lights the longer half in his mouth.<BR>He was a medic in the war.<BR>In his basement are five bronze eagles<BR>that once adorned the walls<BR>of a dictator's palace.</I></p><p><B>Michael McGriff</B> attended the University of Oregon; the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Michener Fellow in creative writing; and Stanford University, where he was a Stegner Fellow. He is the co-founding editor and publisher of Tavern Books and lives in Salt Lake City, Utah.</p><BR></DIV>