Alfred Encarnacion

The Outskirts of Karma Alfred Encarnacion

Wise and knowing, the poems in The Outskirts of Karma startle with their rare combination of lyrical assurance and moral integrity. Most impressive is Encarnacion's expansive empathy, from Li Po to Cavafy, from the tragedy of AIDS and homelessness to the beauty of the natural world-but more often, and what makes this collection's range remarkable-all of it at once, air and gravity, spirit and world, in the great tradition of James Wright and John Haines and, further back, William Carlos Williams and the ancient Chinese poets. These delicately crafted poems are mature, wise, knowing and, like the moon tree, 'renew our belief/in the extraordinary.' - Philip Terman, Professor of English & poet - Clarion University