Almost Heaven

About the Book

Lyrical snapshots of the natural world. In his first collection, Hurd explores nature’s beauty in 40 short, predominantly free-verse poems that hone in on common natural objects and events—a leaf, a rock, rainbows, autumn, etc.—with the cinematic quality of a director fixing no more than a single moment per scene. To heighten the pictorial sense, the poet includes three black and white photographs of pastoral subjects—two deer, a babbling brook and an exquisite fawn. Though Hurd’s tender affinity for nature comes through in these literal and figurative images, their meaning could resonate more. For instance, “Dear One” plainly describes the physical and behavioral attributes—“Her mane was brown, / Soft brown, / Short, / Sleek, / Beautiful to those / Who beheld her.”—of a creature unnamed until the poem’s closing thought: “She was a dear, / Uh, / Deer, / The four-legged kind.” The sudden shift from straight description to casual jocularity is jarring; shutting down possible suggestions conjured by earlier lines. Another distracting quality found here and throughout the collection is the oppressive use of end punctuation, forcing caesuras sometimes midthought, as in “A Leaf”: “A leaf that endured frost, / High winds, / Rain, / Yet it stayed high in the tree. / One day, / It fell, / Leaving one to wonder, / Not why it fell, / But why it stayed so long.” Here a subtle point about resiliency is nearly drowned out by each line’s final comma, inserting poetic breaths with a practically gasping urgency. When working with such clipped lines, the white space on the page provides more than enough pause to allow images both to spill into one another and linger. Quick, nearly engaging depictions of nature that would be better served by fewer declarative statements and greater respect for the power of the poetic line.

Kirkus Discoveries

About the Author

Michael Hurd is the father of three and grandfather of five. He has a B.S. in education And an m.s. in Reading with Learning Disabilities from the university of Wisconsin – river falls. In the late 70’s, he co-authored the special education handbook for c.e.s.a. 11 in western Wisconsin. From 1973, he taught regular, special, and adult education in the classroom, homebound, and tutorial formats. He was the facility manager for the city of new richmond for 23 years until his retirement in 2003. He began writing poetry at the age of 40 and has been published in the united states and Europe.