Poetry. "Curtis Bauer is precise about birds, be they crows, chimney swifts, sparrows, swallows, starlings, cardinals, doves, or grackles. Like Robert Frost, he knows the phoebe doesn't weep, for like him he is deeply versed in country things. But Bauer is wide-ranging and doesn't make a moral distinction between Iowa and New York, any more than he does between America and Spain, where he lives part of the year. He is one of the most tender new poets I know, yet when the subject calls for it, he can be as harsh as necessary, for he is a keen observer, and he is sane, a sane realist with a vivid imagination." Gerald Stern "Velocity, vigor, heartbreak and vibrancy: you'll find all that and more in THE REAL CAUSE FOR YOUR ABSENCE. This book is full of astounding surprises. Sometimes Curtis Bauer plays sentence against line to shake things up before he sets everything right. Sometimes, with just a word, he knocks you out." Camille T. Dungy"