THE UPWARD CURVE OF EARTH AND HEAVENS

The first installment of Oregon-based Story Line's NEA-supported First Books series, Lennon writes of "Death-Winged Poetry," of "Thursday with a Night Moon in Pisces," "For My Wife, the Teacher, Who Scales the Mountains Each Day" and of "River Rafting with my Wife and Daughter": "On rapids we bounce and work, reach smooth water./ We place our paddles up, glide with the river/ into perfection's newest view: trout jumping,/ a daughter holds her mother's hand and laughs." The poem ends there, but the book holds many other adventures and expositions.