The Counsel of the Rain

I listen to the offbeat counsel
of the rain. It falls through
the cracks of shelter, slips
down unknown faces,
into the icy pool of existence.

A cold percussion
distills thoughts from gray light.
In a damp forest of the living
the psyche's blue seams
rock the water for food.

SNOWMELT

Shaun T. Griffin
Illustrations by Karen Kreyeski

The first thing that strikes me about Shaun Griffin's poems is his choice of words. Again and again, hundreds of times in his new book, the unexpected but exactly right word falls into place, giving the poems both strength of timbre and stability of structure. Then beyond this, and deeper, is his passionate regard for the desert and the mountains and the people who live among them, people close to him. These poems are authentic in every sense of the work, and I believe many readers will be well served by them.

— Hayden Carruth

$12.00
1-891033-00-X
 

Shaun Griffin is considered by most to be one of Nevada's finest poets — he is, without question, the greatest advocate of the state's poetic heritage. He published his first chapbook of poems, Words I Lost at Birth, in 1981. He has travelled widely throughout Mexico and collaborated on a number of English/Spanish translations of poetry and fiction. He has edited two collections of poetry which have been published by the University of Nevada Press: Torn by Light, Selected Poems of Joanne de Longchamps (1993) and Desert Wood, An Anthology of Nevada Poetry (1993). He is currently at work on a fiction anthology to be published by that press. Along with writing poetry, Shaun teaches it at the Nevada State Prison?he is also the organizer of the annual Pinion Poetry Festival which benefits school children throughout northern Nevada. He lives in Virginia City with his wife Debby and boys Nevada and Cody, and directs Nevada's homeless youth education program.