Poetry. With art by Marc Shanker. "It is rare to find a poet so attuned to silence, that time—and space—between words, which for Paul Pines is 'the abyss / of mind-before-thought.' His practice is to listen for patterns in the silence, which turn to whispers and then into these wise poems."—Michael Coffey
"If the origin of consciousness is a wound, would it not be logical that someone looking back might observe that life has been mostly sadness with moments of joy? What to do with such a conclusion? Perhaps there'd be time to lighten the darkness by forging the 'ability to contain the tears in things.' Paul Pines does just this in MESSAGE FROM THE MEMOIRIST. The 'Memoirist' as defined by Pines 'understands that Memory is not a bin where pieces are stored and retrieved but a field in which the Soul's narrative continues to unfold.' Poems—such as the ones in this book—are resonant effects of a Soul's unfolding."—Eileen Tabios