Penumbra

“Never less than accomplished, never less than intriguing, the poems in Penumbra exhibit the kind of empirical and aesthetic care which distinguishes the best of the contemporary poetry written in the tradition that’s taken William Carlos Williams’ infamous remark ‘no ideas but in things’ as one of its key starting points.” ~ Tom Phillips, in The High Window

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“Behrens here delivers an often shockingly good performance loaded with wild, unexpected insight and innovation in modes of thought and language (which after all are inherently enmeshed). What this collection is “about”—death—is what all truly good poetry is about. It is about it all, about life in the grand sense, and especially about poetry. I am enthused by the particular ways these poems render the sense of immanence in being alive, while we are.” ~ Michael S. Begnal, Empty Mirror

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‘These are poems with huge scope. They speak personal lament, love, whilst looking up also to wide horizons of thought, and exposing the “secret doings” of the world. They are poems alive with surprising images, unexpected turns. This is a very achieved and compelling collection’ ~ Steven Matthews