Don't let the mediocre rating fool you -- this book has moments of breathtaking beauty, sandwiched between repetitive and even silly declarations of love between Carl Sandburg and his future wife.

This collection of letters covering the 6-month courtship of Sandburg and Lilian Steichen, plus some poems, fragments of poems, and early versions of poems never subsequently anthologized, breathes with the head-over-heels enthusiasm of young love. As such, it can be jejune and even cloying at times -- how often can one read that the object of affection is "beautiful", "perfect", "brave", "genius", "loving", and so forth before one's blood sugar level reaches dangerous heights?

However, it is well worth keeping by anyone interested in Sandburg's life and work. When they met in 1908, he was working as an organizer and recruiter for the Socialist Democratic Party. His (ultimately, their) dedication to the reforms then being promoted by the party (mostly dealing with wage, hour, and safety issues for laborers) form most of the book not devoted to professions of passion.

What makes it valuable are the otherwise unavailable poems, scattered through Sandburg's letters to Lilian, with a few published in one of the appendices (along with some of his SDP writing). Most readers are familiar with Sandburg's "city of big shoulders" writing; fewer know that he could also write deeply passionate love poems. To see that ability emerging in a young man barely 30 years old, is deeply moving.

Make space on your poetry shelf for this one. ( )