Extraordinary collection of prose poems, extravagant, vivid, perhaps not so much surreal as a heightened reality that involves angels, God, a strong family presence, and many another living creature.

A short book of thirty-five romantic, metaphysical, and surrealist prose poems about flowers, animals, and the author's family. The their best they're intense, and di Giorgio has a real talent for finding surprising and strong last lines, which work like the last line of "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota" -- with the crucial difference that the images leading to those last lines belong more with Neruda or even Merwin than to North American realism. Occasionally di Giorgio's last lines are aphoristic, and those are the best pages in the book. Number 9 is a three-paragraph prose poem about a revelation that seemed to be promised by a chest of drawers:

"But then, everything burst into flames and disappeared. God stows his things away safely."

(In Spanish, "Dios tiene sus cosas bien guardados.")

The first and last of the thirty-five have wonderful last lines. The weaker entries depend on ecstatic nature poetry, which can be wonderful (a tomato is described as "a kidney of rubies") but also slack and aimless. But who would begrudge a collection of thirty-five poems when at least three are genuinely good? ( )