Books by Mike Barnes

FINALIST FOR THE 2020 NELSON BALL PRIZE"e;In a dark time,"e; wrote Theodore Roethke, "e;the eye begins to see"e;-and with Braille Rainbow, Mike Barnes reveals both darkness and the light that shines beyond it. Beginning with a suite of poems completed before and immediately following his admission to a psychiatric unit as a young man, Barnes's quiet lyricism and formal sensitivity capture those moments of perception that remind us how to see.Please note that the text of this book is not produced in braille.

Written between one January and the next, A Thaw Foretold is a passionate exploration of themes that are as timeless and recurrent as the seasons. In language that is both precisely vivid and particular, embracing both colloquial directness and formal elegance, the poems confront the elementals of love and loss, mortality and remembrance.