This book is a collection of poems that offers a dedicated look into the mind and spirit of humanity, into a varied world of ideas and experience past and present that touches the life of author Esther Kamkar. Drawing on the open-ended theme of the book’s title, of such things. and her own collage of layers pictured on the cover, the poet shares her vivid understandings in a wide range of poems collected over the past five years and presented through a radiant and determined voice very much her own. Kamkar (in collaboration with her poet friend and book designer Robert Perry) organized the assortment of poems into seven consciously uneven but distinct sections, so that the design of the book from the cover through the interior pages reflects the poetry the reader encounters there.

This collection of poems is a diverse and intimate exploration of subjects and themes animated and informed by what is drawn from the five senses. By doing so, the poet ensures that the reader becomes acquainted with and gains an understanding of whatever she depicts in the most tangible and unequivocal terms, such as hearing the "hum of bees," sampling the "joys of a simple meal," or feeling the paradox of "silk and barbed wire." As a guest at her table, the reader is served a fulfilling and remarkable array of dishes with much that will amaze and delight, and much to contemplate.

This book of poems and woodcuts is an intimate portrayal of what is experienced and observed in life as one whose mind and imagination and feelings are fully engaged in a walk through a garden in search of astonishment. The project received an Artist Grant from the Peninsula Community Foundation (2001) to publish a collection of her poetry to be used as sample books to teach a series of workshops on poetry and handmade bookmaking to children in the Ecumenical Hunger Project’s summer program in East Palo Alto, California.