The Grief of a Happy Life

"Christopher Howell’s The Grief of a Happy Life feels and reads like a gift. Each healing song takes lyrical twists and turns, and arrives at an abiding truth—a blessed ransom paid to soil and sky, body and soul, to the Earth. These summons spring out of quest and need, going back to Gilgamesh and Heraclitus, traveling on to moments of joy and wonderment, praises and elegies, to vows that seethe into atonement, along with everyday names daring to anchor lives fully lived. Here, in The Grief of a Happy Life, every vowel is weighed, every leap earned, and the sway of hope drives the natural music of a worthwhile journey."

"Chris Howell has been for many years now my go-to poet of choice when, for the purposes of my own work, I need to be reminded of what poems can do, what a collection of poetry can do, and just how the mind needs to bend—there, or there—in order that memorable language, the language of poetry, take its place a step ahead of everyday speech. I find Howell’s usual gifts here: for elegy, for the pastoral, for humor and a light-handed lyricism. I cherish his presence in the ever-growing world of our strange craft."

"Christopher Howell’s rambling surrealism acts lie a balm for the mind. Reading this loose-limbed and rangy collection, one thinks of Wordsworth or Hayden Carruth, a philosophy edged with longing, its melancholy leavened with humor. I admire the various forms of these poems, arising from the generous spirit of the poet, apparent on every page."

"The Grief of a Happy Life ought to command critical attention at the level of the Pulitzer, the National Book Award, et cetera—it’s that good. Though art is not a competition, I will say that this book shows Christopher Howell as perhaps our finest active poet in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the finest nationally."

"The Grief of a Happy Life shows Howell as perhaps our finest active poet in the Pacific Northwest, and one of the finest nationally."