Do I Dream Or Wake?

DeWitt Henry's flowing, essay-like poems allow for sur-prising convergences and divergences as they probe their subject matter, which is as varied as a house-to-house search in Watertown, Mass, after the marathon bombing; a kaleidoscopic view of Henry's roles as husband, father, brother-in-law, and grandfather; and an account of a serious physical setback and the resulting medical intervention and later healing. The poems synthesize literary touchstones--including MACBETH, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, ROMEO AND JULIET, and HAMLET--with the spectrum of lived experience. Each is a voyage; our travel is guided by the poet's ability to think deeply about who we are in relation to others and to ourselves.

Jennifer Barber

Author of THE SLIDING BOAT OUR BODIES MADE

What pleasures are to be found in these extended med-itations! Each narrative is wise, witty, and learned. As in the most compelling autobiographies, DO I Dream OR Wake? transcends its genre. This captivating array of situations and circumstances transforms the personal into the universal. Open it anywhere and discover yourself!

John Skoyles

Author of YES AND NO

  These poems, on an astonishing array of subjects, are the wittiest, most verbally playful, most thoughtful and touching and personal essay-poems since Alexander Pope. 

Lloyd Schwartz

Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and

Author of Who's on First? New and Selected Poems

 Profound and often profoundly, wryly funny, (his poems) ask questions poems don't seem to have asked before, and leaves this reader in wonder.

Gail Mazur, author of 

  Land's End: New and Selected Poems

    DeWitt Henry's lively riffs reveal how restless language can be as it shimmers and shifts from noun to verb, from history to headlines. Henry urges, like Sir Philip Sydney, to "look in thy heart and write," as his chosen words, examined like life, fashion a bittersweet biography.

Joyce Peseroff, author of Petition

  There is a strong current of social commentary running through the collection, which never crosses the line into polemic.

Elizabeth Gauffreau, MasticadoresUSA