the Living is not simply a retelling of Steven Stayner's abduction at the age of 7; rather, the poems of this volume are haunting and intimate visitations of his experience conducted by means of startling arrangements of lyric and image. Subject matter one might initially read as fodder for tabloid tales is transmuted into the profound knowledge of the scope of the loss and its terrifying repercussions. I am both heartbroken by these poems and astonished by their writer's enviable skill.

- Cate Marvin, author of Event Horizon