Legend of the Recent Past

James Haug's poems abound in the mysterious, in the world gone wrong by inches. The details are always there, slightly askew, so believable you accept them against your will. And wake up in a world of insight and conviction. These are marvelous poems, ones that help us see what might have been or could have been, in a world full of light. - James Tate In James Haug's poems, precision of observation and plain speaking comfortably coexist with authentic strangeness, in a way I feel is deeply true. The speakers in these poems are friendly, familiar and knowing, but also a bit distanced; they seem also always oriented towards the mysterious, and therefore towards possibility. I love reading these poems, laughing, feeling silent, and drifting off into what feel to me like very real lucid necessary dreams. - Matthew Zapruder Sometimes we go looking for poetry because we are looking for a conversation that defies predictable directions. In James Haug's poems we are so lucky to be in the presence of a generous, complex, surprising, and lucid collection. We are steadily sure of why this poetry is here. We're grateful, we're enriched, we're sustained by it. - Dara Wier