This book is witty, erudite, wise, frightening, and beautiful. If I had a friend leaving on a solitary journey I would give her this book and say "Take this with you as a companion." It is the story of a woman living alone with a dog, in a neighborhood, with headlines and shadows. People turn up naked and unsurprised here. Tame animals, birds, dogs and cats, notice their owner is missing. Sometimes it's the pet that disappears. Physically, this world where wrens fly in the window is in Brooklyn, from the Bridge to the canal, but the imaginative scope of the wren-world is wide, especially through its playful encounters with newspaper headlines. In both neighborhood walks and national news, there is violence, and nakedness, and solitude. In life, difficult as it is, there are funny things to look at everywhere. How to notice such points of interest? It is good to have an eagle-eyed companion with a quick tongue. Words are delicious here. This is brilliant, gracious, and dangerous poetry.
