We have become a galloping society. No time for trotting anymore, let alone walking. Yet, we still find ourselves with minutes here and there, brief periods of time when we can be alone to pause, to wonder, and to consider. These are the times for the short story, the poem, the essay. In this collection Vaughn Keller takes us in many different directions. Some of the short stories have a Noir feel to them. The scenes are current, intense, and raise moral questions. From the streets of New York to Anytown, U.S.A., these are real people encountering intense moments of life. Similarly, the essays take on significant issues and are infused within a questioning sensibility, a wondering about the moral compasses that guide us in the midst of rhetorical screaming that refuses to admit to the messiness of life. From the communication between physician and patient to the failure of the Pro-choice movement to offer a logical argument, Keller doesn't shy away from the controversial or the politically incorrect. By contrast, the poems are personal. Some are unabashed love poems, comfortable in the lyrical tradition of poems through the ages. Keller is a New Englander, sensitive to the changes in seasons and the metaphors that they insist upon.