Review "Robert Lima's statement is pure, untroubled by trends and isms. His observations dart, like light on water, from image to image, each with surprising allusions. ... Willis Barnstone "Thanks for sending the poems. ... it is a special pleasure to have your work." Paul Engle "The poems that get to me the strongest are the ones colloquial, imagist and rhythmically strong or, put another way, in which the rhythm is quite pronounced and often forceful, which sound to me the most natural and free flowing and apparently come from deep within you." David Ignatow "You have the courage to address very basic things with strength and a few well-chosen words. It's a tough thing to do and I admire it." Paul Zimmer "In 'Astrals, ' ... Through the meditative poem's resonating final image of the body's desire for a return to its origin, to a place among the stars, Lima integrates the beginnings of the universe and humankind, even as the entire poem shows how much we long to, and fail to, understand fully the nature of that most primal connection." Sandra Meek About the Author ROBERT LIMA is Professor Emeritus of Spanish and Comparative Literatures, as well as Fellow Emeritus of the Institute for the Arts and Humanistic Studies, at The Pennsylvania State University. In 2003. He was dubbed Knight Commander in the Order of Queen Isabel of Spain by His Majesty King Juan Carlos I. He is the author of forty books of poetry, criticism, biography, bibliography and translation. Over five hundred of his own poems have appeared worldwide, and well over one hundred-fifty of his professional articles have been published in refereed journals. A participant in the 1960s New York City poetry scene, he read at Cafe Cino, Tenth Street Coffeehouse, "Les Deux Megots," and Judson Memorial Church, all in Greenwich Village or the East Village. He founded & co-edited the anthology Seventh Street. Poems of "Les Deux Megots" and Judson Review (2nd series). His books of poetry include Fathoms (1981), The Olde Ground (1985), Mayaland (1992), Sardinia / Sardegna (2000), Tracking the Minotaur (2003), The Pointing Bone (2008), The Rites of Stone (2010), Self (2012), Por caminos errantes (2014), and CELESTIALS (2017). "The Poetic World of Robert Lima: A Retrospective" was an exhibit at Pattee Library from March through August 2004. His poem "Astrals" won the first Phi Kappa Phi poetry competition and appeared in the society's journal FORUM. His readings are recorded on the CDs Eye of the Beholder and Tracking the Minotaur. He has been a Cintas Foundation Fellow in Poetry, Senior Fulbright-Hays Fellow, Poet-in Residence at U. of San Marcos in Peru. Commonwealth Speaker of the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and a member of the Poetry Society of America, PEN, Academician of the Academia Norteamericana de la Lengua Espanola and Corresponding Member of the Real Academia Espanola. He is listed in Who's Who in the World, Who's Who in America, World Who's Who of Authors, and other creative writing directories in the U.S. and abroad. http: //www.personal.psu.edu/RXL2