From Publishers Weekly
In his third collection of poetry, Hass ( Praise ), National Book Critics Circle Award winner for criticism, writes elegiacally of the "dizzying sensation" of physical experience, and of natural beauty, "casual and intense," to which words correspond but from which they are innately divided. "A man thinks lilacs against white houses . . . and can't find his way to a sentence," Hass reflects, observing the suffusing "radiance" of bodily perception and impelled to evoke it as faithfully as possible, though language inevitably alters what it describes. The transience of the physical, perceived in the "mortal singularity of the body," heightens the quiet drama of the poet's mission, represented powerfully in poems conveying that "life has its limits"--most poignantly in love, where men and women "are trying to become one creature, / and something will not have it." Feeling that they "are an almost animal, / washed up on the shore of a world," and seeking their completion, humans, in Hass's subtle, searching meditations, must follow the course of their own implacable rhythms, whatever utopia they wish for. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Hass, 1973 winner of the Yale Series of Younger Poets Award, here shows that he has continued to mature as a poet willing and confident enough to allow his richness of vision and command of language room to expand beyond the limits of the shorter line. Except for the haiku-like "Cuttings," the poems are mostly prose pieces whose longer lines work to his advantage by leading from description to statement or by sustaining a meditative movement. Hass talks to us about himself, his family, and his world--a very human place, circumscribed by the shortcomings in all our lives yet accessible to transformation by nature. Details stand out: a hand-rolled cigarette, flecks of plum on a child's face. To follow his mind in such discourse is to stroll rather than scamper or leap about. With a consistent voice Hass leads us ". . . to the bottom of the raveling."-- Francis Poole, Kentucky Wesleyan Coll., OwensboroCopyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Boston Globe
"Human Wishes takes Hass's poetry to a level of tenderness that few of his contemporaries have reached.... It would not surprise me if he turned out to be one of our major poets, for he has all the requisites: intelligence, depth, musicality, sweep, intimacy, humor, observation, learning, and above all, compassion."

Carolyn Kizer, The New York Times Book Review
"Robert Hass is so intelligent that to read his poetry or prose, or to him speak, gives one an almost visceral pleasure."

Elizabeth Hardwick
"To read Robert Hass is to be in the presence of a singular brightness and freshness of mind."

The Nation
"What's immediately striking in Robert Hass's work is the sheer abundance of pleasures. The poems in Human Wishes are energetic and full of surprises. Robert Hass captures both the brightness of the world and itsvanishing."

About the Author
Robert Hass is the author of two earlier collections of poems, Field Guide and Praise, and a book of essays, Twentieth Century Pleasures. He has also collaborated with Czeslaw Milosz on the translation of his poems, most recently Collected Poems. His many honors include a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur fellowship and the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. He has taught for many years at St. Mary's College of California and is currently a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

About the Author:

Robert Hass is the author of two earlier collections of poems, Field Guide and Praise, and a book of essays, Twentieth Century Pleasures. He has also collaborated with Czeslaw Milosz on the translation of his poems, most recently Collected Poems. His many honors include a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur fellowship and the 1984 National Book Critics Circle Award in criticism. He has taught for many years at St. Mary's College of California and is currently a professor of English at the University of California, Berkeley.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

In his third collection of poetry, Hass ( Praise ), National Book Critics Circle Award winner for criticism, writes elegiacally of the ``dizzying sensation'' of physical experience, and of natural beauty, ``casual and intense,'' to which words correspond but from which they are innately divided. ``A man thinks lilacs against white houses . . . and can't find his way to a sentence,'' Hass reflects, observing the suffusing ``radiance'' of bodily perception and impelled to evoke it as faithfully as possible, though language inevitably alters what it describes. The transience of the physical, perceived in the ``mortal singularity of the body,'' heightens the quiet drama of the poet's mission, represented powerfully in poems conveying that ``life has its limits''--most poignantly in love, where men and women ``are trying to become one creature, / and something will not have it.'' Feeling that they ``are an almost animal, / washed up on the shore of a world,'' and seeking their completion, humans, in Hass's subtle, searching meditations, must follow the course of their own implacable rhythms, whatever utopia they wish for. (Aug.)

Library Journal