Tired

"It is refreshing these days of spreading capitalism and colorless urban life to read lines of poetry that insist on 'summer music' of talking about trees, with attentiveness and affection. His feeling toward the natural world is genuine—but hardly naive. Looking at the branches he also looks 'in the dark, in mind.' 'I notice the glow of the light-green,' this poet says. There is a dash of Dylan Thomas in this lyric, and much of Strous's own wisdom in lines such as 'Carpentry of these trees—/they are so simple.' But readers will quickly realize that on the page such simplicity is only seeming. It looks simple because a great deal of work was put into the words"—Ilya Kaminsky.

Allen Strous is the author of a chapbook, Of This Ground, part of the four-author poetry collection The Fifth Voice (Toadlily Press, Quartet Series, 2006). His poems have appeared in The Ohio Review (including a chapbook, Spaces), Blue Unicorn, Argestes, and other journals. His work has received Pushcart Prize nominations and an Individual Artist Fellowship grant from the Ohio Arts Council.