In this heartfelt, heartbreaking collection, Michael Hettich reaches into the wilds to find some measure of the eternal that might wedge itself between himself and the unthinkable: the death of his beloved. He calls upon memory as if to rewind their lives together and forestall the inevitable. He immerses himself in the forces that might provide some solace, might somehow outlast the darkness, the silence. In language as vivid as the pulsing life around him—the swollen creeks, the mountains; sky, stars, and wind; birds and bears—he contains those elements and lets them speak.

—Marie Harris, Desire Lines

Michael Hettich has published more than a dozen books of poetry, most recently The Halo of Bees: New and Selected Poems, 1990-2022 which won the 2024 Brockman-Campbell Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. His other honors include several Individual Artist Fellowships from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Tampa Review Prize in Poetry, the David Martinson / Meadowhawk Prize, a Florida Book Award, the Lena M. Shull Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society, and the inaugural Hudson-Fowler Prize from Slant magazine at the University of Central Arkansas. His poetry, essays, and reviews have appeared in many journals and anthologies. He holds a Ph.D. in literature and taught for many years at Miami Dade College. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.