"How best to summarize the enchantment in Bill Ayres's poems, earthy intimations of the sublime! Not mere growth but transformation. Every poem, a surprise. Metamorphosis. Wholeness and specificity. Sharp edges and tenderness. 'Thank you for those days / you raised me up the flagpole / so I could flap, terrified..., / and lowered me down as dusk neared, / gathering me in your arms.' Come and read! Let these poems offer you their holy rescue."
--Sofia M. Starnes, Poet Laureate Emerita, Virginia
"Accomplishing feats of transformation only a practiced poet can, in We Share the World, Ayres is at the top of his craft mixing persona poems with faith and fable. 'Who knew that would be so liberating?' Asking the urgent question--'What matters?'--taking us from infant to elder and origin to imagined afterlife, through the many incarnations of self--Frankenstein, outlaw, fairy tale, animal, water, poet--Ayres asks us to examine truth and myth side-by-side in a world that makes that distinction difficult to discern. 'My heart has places / That feel nothing but outrage.' The difference between old and neglect, nurture and nourish asks all who share this world to consider 'What will teach you to listen?'"
--Kindra McDonald, author of Teaching a Wild Thing
"What do our perceptions mean? How do we connect with each other and the natural world? Bill Ayres' stunning new collection, We Share the World, takes us on a journey through the moments of becoming and transformation. The poet reimagines myth and persona, exploring voices ranging from a child learning language to an earthworm contemplating the soil he left behind. In every poem, innocence and awareness mix to form fresh and unique perspectives."
--Michael Jon Khandelwal, Executive Director, The Muse Writers Center, Norfolk, Virginia