... PRAISE FOR WALLY SWIST'S POETRY "What a gorgeous book this is Wally Swist writes of passionate love with a quiet grace that stirred this reader's heart. Each individual poem moved me deeply; as a whole, Luminous Dream simply knocked me out. Shades of Pablo Neruda, Mary Oliver, and Gary Snyder abound, yet the poet's voice is uniquely his own. This is a book I will return to again and again with deep pleasure." -Leslea Newman, author Nobody's Mother and Still Life with Buddy, Poet Laureate, Northampton, MA 2008-2010 "These poems are a beautifully perceptive reading of both the natural world and ourselves as its necessary testament and witness. If 'seeing is believing, ' then Wally Swist can make believers of us all." -Robert Creeley "Wally Swist's poems are full of clean perceptions and clear, proportionate feeling. They are easy to read in the sense that they are continually rewarding. They have a fine balance, doing justice to the natural, the human, and the divine, and treating none of these as refuge from another. As a grateful reader, I applaud him." -Richard Wilbur

In Huang Po and the Dimensions of Love, poet Wally Swist blends themes of love and epiphany to lead readers into a more conscious interaction with the world around them. These ethereal poems call upon a spirituality unfettered to any specific religion, yet universal and potent in its scope, offering a window through which life can be not only viewed but also truly experienced. This luminescent collection illustrates the joys to be found in the everyday world and the power of existence. Unveiled here are the twin edges of love and madness; the quiet mysteries and revelations of a New England night or the glittering spark of snowdrops; the sharp scents of sugar maple and cinnamon; and the rustle of a junco's wings. From the restoration and peace of silence or the rush of a brook, to spiraling hawks and Botticelli's 'The Annunciation,' Swist's poems linger somewhere between the earthbound and the sublime.