I defy anyone to read "The Girl" or "Out of the Gutwein" without a visceral shock of terror, recoiling despair, and a palpable sense of relief in escaping such fates. "There but for fortune . . ."-indeed! One may hear echoes of Roethke, Kunitz, Stafford, and Cummings, but this is a distinctive voice of a master poet. I envy Paul L. Stebbing's first time readers the rich banquet that awaits them. Antipodes is an illuminating and visionary reminder that the universe, while it may not meet our mundane goals, is ever a source of surprise and wonder, mystery, and redemption.