The precise gaze and chiseled language of the poems in Oldest Mortal Myth authoritatively convey a broad and deep knowledge. Whether a reimagining a Greek myth in order to infuse it with a contemporary pain, extending empathy and humorous Mitmenschkeit to both denizens and voyeurs of the worlds freakshows, or describing with wit and experience the spiritual affects of medical conditions, the book is infused with restrained but piercing emotion, a subtle metrical ear, and enough daring and wit to write in rhymed couplets to take the obvious, easy way. For instance, with the last line of De Wallen, Amsterdam The moon above the spires, a sexless disk, /eyes us coolly as an odalisque. I so admire the refusal to make that last line scan as a perfect iambic pentameter line. It would be so easy; all youd have to do is add the grammatical, but colloquial, as. Which would have ruined the line, and the poem. Oh, and the rhymes in the canzone! Theres much to admire here, much to enjoy.--Marilyn Nelson