"In the 'Peaceable Kingdom' of a David Kirby poem the framing of an identifiable voice and a strong, encompassing closure brings and binds together the paradoxical, the funny, the sad, the messy, the precious in aesthetic concord. His pallete is brighter and braver for its inclusion of the often-scanted hues of statement, idea, vivacity of language and an interest in beings beyond the self."—from the foreword, by Mona Van Duyn
"David Kirby's poems flash past in the most bizarre movie you'll ever see. Across the stage of this book husbands dance in bathrobes, Elvis writhes 'like a man in flames,' and Nine Young Men of Niigata first joke, then jump off the verandah of a temple."—Peter Wild