A Handbook for Writers

Selection from two previous collections join a large collection of new work which continues Rutsala's exploration of the prose poem as a literary form. "Sounding at times like plot summaries of stories by John Cheever that Cheever never got around to writing and at other times like witty fables, or meditations on the tricks of language, Rutsala's wonderful prose paragraphs are at all times rewarding journeys into the inner life, the secret life of three o'clock in the morning, when everyday defeats acquire a weird glamour and heroism." -- Charles Baxter.