Soaring across extensive terrain, from the working world of Detroit to American suburbia and pop culture; from the European landscape of World War II to the current war in Iraq, Christine Rhein opens her personal world to the world at large. In poems that explore the historical, social, and scientific, as well as the poignant and humorous, Rhein relishes life s juxtapositions. from Tuning I try to tune out the boom boom boom from the shooting range two miles from my house, and think of the people who live next door to the targets, or in the din of London and Berlin where nightingales now sing fourteen decibels louder to be heard by mates, quintupling the pressure in their lungs . . . . . . Imagine if we could hear bread rising, dew forming, the budding of raspberries, the tear of a cocoon, a minnow s pulse, our own cells growing, dying. When my husband kisses my ear, I love the swoosh, the quiver, his breaths and driven by wind, my whispered name."