The Man Who Saws Us in Half: Poems: Southern Messenger Poets

Through silence and song, death and rebirth, a sense of wonder pervades every minute of our lives. In The Man Who Saws Us in Half, Ron Houchin explores this idea from the first curiosities of childhood to the gradual skepticism that comes with age and the weight of practical concerns. In the whimsical poem "The Lion That Finds You Asleep in His Dream," the sleeping figure relives the magical allure of youth, offered both gratuitously and ubiquitously: "The moon's still high in its arc, / and you know / you spilled from this lion's heart."

With his unique and colloquial voice, Houchin allows the reader to experience familiar subjects anew, to admire the surrounding world with rekindled appreciation and awe.