Reginald Gibbons's poetry comes out of the same sensibility as his criticism, translation, editing, and teaching. As a critic and promoter of literature Gibbons labors to connect poetry with the rest of culture, and American writers with the rest of the world. As a poet he strives for the range and sensitivity he praises in great writers: "the largeness of the writer's response to worlds both large and small, to experiences both material and spiritual, to realms both contemporary and imagined" (preface to The Writer in Our World, 1986).

These ambitions have brought him a busy career. He has participated in readings, lectures, and residencies at universities across North America and in England, Mexico, and Venezuela. Besides encouraging writers and readers through his editorship of the journal TriQuarterly, he has served the Associated Writing Programs on its board of directors (1984-1987) and as vice-president (1985-1986) and treasurer (1986-1987). He...