Christopher Buckley moves within the same poem from the most commonplace, drab, inarticulate experiences of life and language to the most lyrical, beautiful, and sublime. Buckley's art changes mud and dirty shoes into sky. A master of his art, he has much to teach us about seeing, thinking, and feeling. As Gerald Stern has put it, Buckley's "subject is radiance. So he hates fascism and believes we are more than dust. So I read him."