Irene Toh

Settled for the Night

Arts & Literature

“Ralph Stevens’s poems are lessons in mindfulness, of paying attention to the world within and without. The poems are a looking out—to a streetscape, to a body of water—while giving us images that pile up in a deep contemplation. A sense of reverence, of oneness with nature—watching boats unloading a catch in the harbor becomes a prayer for healing, how a poppy bursts its color to wash away darkness—precisely how truth percolates through a poet’s mind, teaching us how to hold the world in thought, in gratitude, in quiet solace.”