The Owl in the Mask of the Dreamer : Collected Poems

“A writer of rare vision and poetic eloquence.” —Robert Michael Pyle, New York Times Book Review

“Haines has always written with a beautiful ear. His early work distinguished itself by combining lucid images from the natural world with a dreamy inwardness. An imagination of solitude inhabited a solitary landscape; if the sensibility relished an ascetic purity, the body presented itself in the mouth's pleasure of vowel and in the eye's exactness. The later work ... retains these qualities-- sense and imagination-- while it adds more of the world and more of Haines' rigorous intelligence. He writes with a hard instrument on a hard surface, making no disposable verses.” —Donald Hall, The Nation

“His poems require concentration, rereading, and knowledge beyond what they impart, but the extra effort is richly, religiously rewarded.” —Ray Olson, Booklist

“If one views Haines' poetic development as a journey from the specific geography of the Alaskan wilderness to the uncharted places of the spirit, then that journey is now complete.” —Dana Gioia