The Animals Beyond Us

My father dives in and swims off across the bay, tries to swim all the way to the other side, swims past slag islands of mucky-drift and mangrove crowded with birds that don't notice him. If he makes it to the other shore he will walk home, barefoot and dripping . . . Using natural imagery and the disjunctive ease of jazz, Michael Hettich imagines a way through isolation, longing, and the haunting unexplained loss of his father. Michael Hettich has published six books of poetry, including the prize-winning Flock and New and Selected Poems (New Rivers Press, 2005), Swimmer Dreams (Turning Point, 2004), Behind our Memories (Adastra, 2004), and The Point of Touching (John Le Bow, 2003). Hettich teaches English and creative writing at Miami Dade College.