Product Description ". . . and what used to take me a decade and more to accomplish as a writer has suddenly fruited within a 12-month time frame." Joe Sherman was describing Beautiful Veins, his final poetry collection. Beautiful Veins begins with a child, "one life with all the promise of its beautiful veins." Some poems catch details of domestic life, its indwelling spirit and glancing irony. Others evoke history and landscape, opening them up to careful consideration. Always there is a love of language: its quirks and oddities, its split-levels and riches. Intricate and elliptical syntax reveals moments of joy, named against the threat of time and illness. A poem ends, in its own kind of triumph, "I would rather be beautiful than dead." About the Author Joseph Sherman (1945-2006) grew up in Whitney Pier, Nova Scotia, studied in Fredericton, taught in Edmundston, New Brunswick, and moved to Charlottetown in 1979. A superb editor, poet, and essayist, he won many awards, including the Bliss Carman Award and the Royal Society of Arts Silver Medal; he was also a Member of the Order of Canada. His practice and advocacy contributed immeasurably to the arts in Prince Edward island, the Atlantic region, and Canada.