In the ancient tradition of poet-as-traveler-and-seer, Barry Hill’s Grass Hut Work is, like Basho’s Narrow Road to the Interior, both a travelogue of Japan and a journey inward, into what we’ll call the Soul-for lack of a better word. He sees with fresh eyes the merger of history and presence, and presents us vital insight at every turn. In the grass hut, he says, I strive to be nobody, and thereby becomes an everyman, an exemplar, a master and unsui, a beginner. Beautiful and quietly powerful, this is work to return to again and again. -Sam Hamill