The Book of the Dead Man

The literary journal Prairie Schooner likens this work from Marvin Bell to "a broadcast from another planet, finally, after light years, reaching a single human listener." The reviewer seems to be referring to the juxtaposition of intimacy and distance in these poems. Funny, scary, serious, sad, this meditation on possible lives and afterlives whispers and cajoles, and ultimately sinks deeply into the reader's mind.