“Never-Ending Birds”

“Never-Ending Birds: Poems” (W.W. Norton & Co.) is David Baker’s eighth work and arguably his most personal. He travels through time, giving readers precious insight into his childhood and even into the pain and struggles of his recent divorce. The book is a combination of many elements. It is a guide through which readers can experience Midwestern villages, as well as an autobiography of a man who seeks to rediscover through verse his teen years, his experiences raising a child, and the many losses he has endured over the course of his lifetime. With lines as ethereal and airy as the birds Baker evokes, the book is a beautiful compilation of natural poetry with a powerful and emotional narrative coursing through the work from the first to last page.