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“We know how dark
are powers kept in darkness
(a broken lock, a stopped clock,
masks, and lies.)

When we wake
that unexampled day,
will we believe ourselves
free or broken?”

This powerful collection of poems by Richard Hoffman encompasses over a half century of living, from his childhood to his grandson’s childhood, from his early love of letters and words to his grandson reaching out with joy for a blank sheet of paper.  In between, we see the accounting one must face with a parent, the shifting winds of marriage, the pith of life in even its smallest, most telling moments.

“In Richard Hoffman’s long, complex title poem, which anchors his concerns throughout the book, he says with characteristic lucid candor:“…now when longevity itself begins to seem at oncethe only wealth worth having and the booby prize.”It should be noted that Noon until Night is not a book about noon until evening. Yet the darkness that night suggests has its rays of hope in it, as Hoffman artfully meditates on how we live and, without sentimentality, manage to go on.” —STEPHEN DUNN, Poet and winner of The Pulitzer Prize