Books in the Contemporary Poetry Series series

The essential mind-mysteries are the subject of Vance's poems. Themes of mutability, maturation, discovery, and delight are projected through brilliant archetypal imagery controlled and perfected by a striking technical assurance. The poems are concentrated and sometimes demanding, but they are never obscure and they go deep.

This volume of poetry illustrates a new side of the author of The Carnivore and Suits for the Dead. The wit, the toughness, the shining lyric clarity of the earlier books are still here, but they have been joined by a quiet understanding, a joyfulness, and an acceptance of things as they are that indicates the poet has moved into a new and exciting period.

The twenty-five poems included in this collection present a poet mature in both craft and perception and possessed of a fine capacity for being both lyric and analytic at the same time. There is no posturing, but always a position, both thought and felt.

Aware of the difficulty of loving the world while feeding upon it, the poems of Dwelling Song hope vision is levity as they press language to make sight and song. This writing is a form of mimicry and yet an act of flight. Whether from the voice of a hunter, shepherd or farmer, it recognizes that moving forward necessitates turning one's back.