Ellery's poems twist the aphorisms of fatalism and hope into pleas for mercy for all of us. His voice clear, poignant, and always human  cuts through the madness of doctrine to find sense between words and between worlds, in the silences where meaning and oblivion dwell side by side. The Big Mosque of Mercy reminds that we discover ourselves only when we lose consciousness of ourselves--and until then won't know whether we lead or follow.  Jerry Bradley