Poetry. A FURNACE IN THE SHADOWS is much more than a new collection of poems by Paul Pines, or even a 'selected poems.' It is a body of work--a man's life, embodied in a lifetime's work. From the first poems here, written in the 1960s, when in his early twenties the poet set sail like a latter day Melville. He is a poet of high poetic ambition, like his honored masters, Paul Blackburn, Robert Duncan, William Bronk, Lorca, Yeats--poets in the ancient tradition of transcendental lyricism. One of the most amazing aspects of his work is the consistency of his voice and the clarity of his project over more than half a century. His voice and ambition, like his lyrical gift, were there at the start, and here they are at the end of this extraordinary book--toughened but not hardened by age and still sweetly dignified and clear-eyed. Paul Pines remains wise and deep beyond his years, no matter how old he grows. This is a book to treasure and constantly revisit, like a lifelong friend.--Russell Banks