When times get tough, it can be difficult to find words that capture what we're feeling and bring us comfort. In these situations, poetry can be a (figurative) life saver. That's the idea behind Ten Poems for Difficult Times, a slim collection of ten poems—about anxiety, grief, spirituality, inhumanity, joy, courage, the mystery of being—accompanied by engaging essays exploring each poem's meaning and universal themes. Penned by Maggie Smith, Conrad Aiken, Wendell Berry, Nazim Hikmet, Marie Howe, and other modern poets, these powerful selections "give a human face to our collective struggles and remind us that this human world is not only broken, it is beautiful." (KG)