The alp at the end of Gary Leising's street is many things but to me it embodies the immensity of life's surprising spiritual eruptions, doubts, and challenges amid the mundane. The Alp at the End of My Street is full of happily disconcerting shifts between humor and high seriousness, and it is rich with daring but agreeable leaps of imagination that surprise and delight. The author's intelligence, good humor, and common sense light up every poem in this outstanding collection. Andrew Hudgins