The Blessing gathers under one cover Richard Jones' insightfully candid and supremely accessible poetry providing a comprehensive overview survey of this superb and uniquely talented poet. Things: I got to a dimly lit secondhand store/to lift empty champagne glasses/and open dusty drawers./I buy the broken chair/and dedicate myself/to its new life./I leave with the chipped vase,/the cracked violin, the yellowed lace.//I go to bright department stores/where aisles of merchandise/sing their songs/beneath fluorescent lights --/ desks, sofas, picture frames,/asking for a reason to exist,/demanding our secrets, our love,/every thing demanding/everything of my life.