The delicacy and sensibility of Robert Hass, as exemplified in . . . Human Wishes, is a distinct joy to experience in this time when so many published works deal with violence, aberration, and alienation. His elegant gleanings of essence, often impressionist in tone, make us aware once again that beauty and meaningful silence still exist . . .

In part 2 an attempt is made to create the prose poem. Hass’s is not the prose poem of Mallarmé, Poe, or even W.S. Merwin, but rather similar to those of the Swiss poet Albert Steffen, who calls his creations "little myths" . . . This section contains observations, nostalgia, memories, dreams, in sudden beautiful images . . .