What to Pray for

In this new collection, Michael Kiesow brings imagination and insight to subjects drawn from personal history and cultural experiences ranging from cooking to dance, myth, and music. Childhood traumas and the persecution of those who are ''different'' provide the subtext for poems of sometimes surprising whimsy and freshness. Homey images sit side by side with scenes of angelic splendor, and compassion for troubled souls spurs theological reflections buoyed less by logic than passionate imagery. It's clear that the author has been moved and inspired by the efforts of others--Hockney, Nijinksy, Piazzolla--and his own poems extend that tradition in new directions. As fellow poet Deborah Keenan put is, Moore's poems strive to ''put mystery back in the moon.''