Running throughout Wally Swist’s numerous poems and publications is clear evidence of his lifelong dedication to observing the natural world. This practice in turn has influenced his extraordinary sense of perception and vision, so clearly at work in this collection, tested in all facets of life, from the most mundane ( Mall Walker ) to the natural ( Ode to the Holyoke Range ) to the political ( Ringmaster of the Ridiculous ) to the eternal ( A Mystical Unfoldment ). Swist’s powers of observation have led him to see the threads that connect all of it, and that is precisely the point … those threads are The Map of Eternity where we are mesmerized with wonder and in awe of the wonder of what is.