The Seed Thieves
Turning away from this morning's headlines to Robert Fanning s book I feel that someone has steadied my shoulders, and for a while I walk in the holy light of sanity through charred buildings, yes, in and out of broken-hearted familes and urban traffic, the awful billboards and births and deaths,  the intricate architecture of rubble  that is our lived lives. But the voice guiding me is clear, and the hand on my shoulder sure. It s a quality we used to call  character,  a quality of soul, that keeps me turning the pages. When I look up from the book I see through the window I hadn t noticed all morning: outside the returning birds are industrious as ever and singing. --Marie HowePassionate and accomplished this poet's ear is beautifully tuned  The Seed Thieves is an urgent, nervous, tender, and brilliant first book. Read it for joy! --Thomas LuxRobert Fanning's poems originate from some uncanny place between a fevered imagination and a keen intellect. They are musical, dangerous poems both sparing and wild. This poet searches for language and meaning in a mysterious world. What the poems offer, instead, is more mystery. More dream. More strange and lovely imagery and music. Robert Fanning is the real thing a brave traveler in the sensory world, the subconscious, the realms of the dead and the very-much-alive and he has emerged with these brilliant, startling, compelling poems. --Laura Kasischke