Crow Call

　　These poems were written in memory of Buddy Gray, grassroots activist and co-founder of the National Coalition for the Homeless, shot by a former client a decade ago in Cincinnati. Some of them deal directly with Gray and his murder, while others address the nature of exploitation, poverty, and greed; homelessness and its effect on the spirit; and the sacrifice necessary to create a common voice. In his invocation the poet calls on the spirits of past heroes and artists, whose voices echo throughout the book. In the poems themselves, a pair of watchful crows counts the changes in the work. Crow Call can be read either as a meditation on injustice or an elegy in the tradition of "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed" and "Kaddish." However it is read, it touches the heart.