[Barry Spacks] shows more religious spirit in his title poem, "Imagining a Unicorn," than in acres of [William] Everson. The poem depicts the Cloister tapestries in its separate scenes, the climax coming with the Unicorn in Captivity panel…. Spacks transforms a familiar art work into a personal poem, weaving words into scenery, mixing medieval and modern sensibilities. His style in other poems combines conversational slang with an academically precise syntax and tone…. I enjoyed "Seeing Pablo Neruda," a poem about spotting the poet at Harvard Square—or was it Octavio Paz? Spacks will never be sure and his poetry mimics his insecurity. He writes humorously about having a street named after him, nastily about litterbugs, and emotionally about his dead mother and a student killed in a gliding accident. We learn a lot about the poet from his writing, and the news is intelligent and good. (p. 117)