“Subtlety of ear, of phrasing, of language altogether, and a light-play of feeling, disguise the urgency and evocative range of Mark Irwin’s grave sensibility. The richness and evanescence of the moment surface repeatedly in his lines.”      —W.S. Merwin

“Mark Irwin’s poetry is astir with liquid light, light wind, leaves, blossoms and the slight but weighty questions that anchor us in his trembling landscapes. ‘Because every thought is either memory or desire, the world / pulls away on both sides’ leaving space for our tentative living. This is a book one wants to taste again and again.”      —John Ashbery