End Matters

"How did it get late so soon?" asks Robin Dyke, bringing life stories shared in End Matters full circle via Dr. Seuss. In observant, often wistful poems, he reconsiders high and low moments in a life passionately pursued, with an advancing world as backdrop. As readers, we cheer him on as he comes to terms with family, friends, loves he's found-and sometimes lost-all recollected alongside his heroes, including Roger Bannister, Martin Luther King, Leonard Cohen, to name just three. "What will last cross my mind" he asks in "Reborn." Read End Matters to discover the cornucopia of experiences he has to choose from. -John Barton, author of Lost Family: A Memoir and Compulsory Figures These finely written, engagingly readable poems embody the earned wisdom of a life well lived. A style at once urbane and muscular vividly evokes incidents both long-ago and recent. With verve and savior faire we are transported to scenes from Latin America to the Balkans and into other eras where we encounter memorable people and enter the presence of the dead. There are worthy tributes to famous persons who have passed (Toller Cranston, Leonard Cohen) and to others still with us, like Sidney Crosby. And most moving of all are the affectionate portraits of friends. End Matters is, indeed, poetry that matters. - Allan Briesmaster, author of 'Windfor' and 'Later Findings'