"And short the season, first rubythroat / in the fading lilacs, alyssum in bloom, / a honeybee bumbling in the bleeding heart / on my gelding's grave while beetles swarm / him underground…." In her final collection, completed shortly before her death, onetime U.S. Poet Laureate Maxine Kumin explores some of her favorite themes, including the beauty and brutality of nature, threads of myth and modernity, the violence and tenderness of humankind, and her beloved horses.

"Exquisite pastorals of her New Hampshire farm mix with politics and echoes of past poets, possessing a directness that makes each piece necessary and vital."—Publishers Weekly