Poems in this book run the gamut of subject matter, from love to war, farming to forgiveness. Ralph, a member of the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, speaks plainly, but always with a bit of music in his writing. 92 pages and 81 poems. Published by Auk Ward Editions, 2010

Excerpts:

. . Like falling in and out and in, again
Since the beginning and until
We are very, very old and
Maybe falling in and out, even then

The seasons, I mean, the leaves
The greening and the turning to gold
The rush of it like the sea pullingan>
The ice and streams of high Mountains .
--From "Like this morning, crazy with wind"

. . . They're all praying for you and for me,
the high ground of you towering
above me, and the river,
they're praying now for the river of you,
and they're praying for me
to go adrift in the river
to the sea of you,
to the sea of you,
praying I'll be lost at sea in in you . . .
--From "Prayers of Old Men"