The poems are generous, warm and open- hearted. They are also noteworthy for their optimism, their sunny-minded American disposition. Mike Powers was born in 1936, in the depths of the Great Depression, the eldest child in a family of 10. After a child- hood in Dayton, Powers put himself through college, met his wife and started a family, and departed his hometown in Ohio for the greenery of Connecticut. He did not begin writing poetry until retiring from a 38-year career in international marketing and sales with IBM. More than compensating for the late start, he has worked prodigiously, with dedication and enthusiasm. The spirit of his poetry recalls the words of Salman Rushdie: “A poet’s work is to . . . shape the world and stop it from going to sleep.”