Archipelago

Ted Higgs has been reading and writing poetry for a long time and the beautifully crafted poems collected here represent a lifetime's practice of distilling the deep feelings of experience into thoughtful poetic lines. His articulate and often mellifluous long sentences unfold layers of consciousness, finding "something fundamental in the darkness." Frequently, Higgs reveals "the hidden ciphers" of time lost as well as the "loves and sorrows yet to come." Just as the poem "Closing the Closet Door" warns, "don't let your words become as predictable / as snow," Higgs's poems explore universal subjects but always in surprising ways. These are intelligent, sensitive poems that deserve to be read again and again. --Matt Brennan