”Stanley Kunitz once said, “I dream of an art so transparent that you can look through and see the world.” For thirty-five years or more, this is how I have read the poetry of C. G. Hanzlicek. His project has always been one of clarity, of specific and imaginative attention to the world. He presents—with a flawless ear for the rhythms of American speech—the essential light and understanding he gleans from that careful attention. The Lives of Birds takes up his important theme of mortality and at the same times reveals his great affection for life—the lives of his family, as well as the smaller examples of jays and mockers. The brilliance of this book, its importance, is that Hanzlicek’s eye and imagination cherish the tenuous connection of all our lives with the sustaining music of the soul.”
—Christopher Buckley
“What always characterizes C. G. Hanzlicek’s verse is the way he balances risk and control. His voice is never severe, despite his insistence on seeing, as Worsdworth would say, “into the life of things.” From the transient redemption of “Aubade” to the existential gut-check of “Curse of the Starling,” these poems orbit into surprising revelations that are always hard-earned, authentic, and deeply moving.”
—Kevin Clark
“Reading The Lives of Birds is like taking a walk with a clear-eyed and intent companion: you discover the “rarities of a small world” you hadn’t noticed before. Small wonder that birds frequently turn up in these poems: flash of color or shy recluse, local spirits full of song and distance. Hanzlicek is drawn to those occasions when the common and familiar give way to what is transcendent or redemptive, which is to say that he is essentially a poet of celebrations. On dark days—and many of the poems are about dark days—Hanzlicek reminds us that “Sometimes our eyes, or the memory / of the thing seen” restores us and makes us whole. Dark days or fair, these are poems I return to.”
—Peter Everwine
