"Bless the Ashes "is an urban hymn to elemental influences: Peter Harris s mother and the reverberations of the ethical gifts she gave him during her fifty-seven years on earth; the integrity at the core of cultures crafted under duress by people of African descent; the nourishment of waters, actual and symbolic; powerful music (from the One and 4/4 to symphonic and atonal); as well as the exhilaration of tapping the flow of creativity. These poems are about an adult search for deep humanity and the best of community.

This book crystallizes Harris s most expansive quest for a creative...