The image of a garden appears again and again in Wild Sweet Notes II, and it is a fitting symbol for this second volume of poems from West Virginia writers. Here is a whole new season of verse, varied and bountiful and nourishing. From the haunting clarity of Tom Andrews to the lush and layered voice of Mary Moore, from the delicious story-spilling poems of John Hoppenthaler to Trent Busch's dead-on metaphors to Martin Lammon's slow-burning passion, Wild Sweet Notes II is full of work that will delight and reward readers. Rita Mae Reese tells small and terrifying truths. Bill King turns a morning walk into an epiphany. Honor J. McCain burnishes the surfaces of everyday words with a sense of history. I doubt that any reader, no matter how familiar with West Virginia writers, will fail to find some new and arresting voices in this anthology. -- from Colleen Anderson Author of THE NEW WEST VIRGINIA ONE-DAY TRIP BOOK and several essays, stories, poems, & song