Although there is much longing and loneliness in My Human Comedy, what passion there is is for playful words, the play of words, the layering and combining of images into still-life vignettes. A central figure in these poems is even named Stan Still, a pun of a name, a symbol for the stillness born of the end of striving.

Many of the central symbols are familiar – wind, rain, crows, slowpitch softball, a pickup game of hockey, a teacher’s relationship to his students, a father’s feelings for his son and daughters. Many poems refer to poets, and poetry, and the art of writing.

In the end, lines from the hockey poem “Before Dark” sum things up nicely:

Everyone hollers for the last shot
and here it is, no, nowhere near the goal
which after all cannot be seen.
No goals let’s just keep playing
and there’s another rush.