This lively new collection of poetry by George Kalamaras, former Poet Laureate of Indiana (2014-2016), is an intimate appreciation of hound dogs of all breeds and a Whitmanesque celebration of American life-our companionship with dogs and our attraction to wilderness, adventure, and contemplation. This gritty, swampy, woodsy volume attends to sensuous details. In his inimitable way, Kalamaras discovers in the backwoods of the American imagination enormous resources for spiritual sustenance. Hound dogs with their "whuffling" muzzles lead us to the places where we may realize our deepest human and animal purposes.