"Swallowing the World, New and Selected Poems" by Don Freas is a broad-ranging collection of poems that explore and illuminate our complex world. The author takes us beyond everyday existence on a deep exploration of alternative ways of perceiving. These poems take apart life and the landscape and put it back together to be seen anew.There are poems that will grow as you grow; new again each time you return. Freas helps us knock loose habitual assumptions and reach to the heart of experience through deepened trust-with a steady voice that displays a devotion to swallowing the world whole. FROM THE BACK COVER: "To read Freas is to put on glasses that enable us to see the world clearly for the first time. Grounded in scent, texture, color, and wind song, these poems create a portal for the invisible to resonate through the visible. Direct as Rumi, subtle as David Wagoner and intuitive as Robert Bly, this work immerses us in an intimate experience of nature, each other, and ultimately, ourselves." -Tess Callahan, Author of "April and Oliver" "I am as struck by the uncommon generosity of the work as I am by the compelling tension between active engagement in the world and a Zen-like acceptance of things as they are. The poet's language is musical, precise, often playful but always accessible. This is truly seeing and swallowing the world, something like what we used to call wisdom. Wander these halls and you'll experience a truly generous mind at play-you may come out a little richer in spirit." -Bob Hornbuckle, St. Louis MO. "'Swallowing the World' offers an openhanded invitation-to delve, to pray, to see. The terrain of these poems is the human spirit, vulnerable and brave, bewildered and curious, and above all, loving. No guidebook or map available, we're given the chance to wander freely the landscape of human experience, to recognize that the pebbles under our feet and the vast sky above us are equal." -Linda Strever, Author of "Don't Look Away" and "Against My Dreams""