The Prayer of the Mantis

The poems in this collection are illuminating encounters that unveil the spiritual depths hidden beneath the surfaces of everyday life.

—Bryan Helton, poet, author of The Manic Joy of the Dead and editor of The Basilisk Tree

Friesenhahn’s poetry is mature and with its own voice, but the smart, masculine metaphors in its confessions are likeably reminiscent of Lowell, and there are wonderful, Heaney-like groundings in nature, at turns edifying and haunting.

—Andrew Coyle, editor, Rundelania

Friesenhahn’s poetic voice is confident and moves us through various configurations of human nature so that we can, in the end, contend with our relationship with it. There are no definitive answers in these poems, but there is always hope, that human and verbal rhythm that squares up against ruin.

—Octavio Quintanilla, author, The Book of Wounded Sparrows and The Impossible Hours / Las Horas Imposibles