Jeredith Merrin’s third collection, Cup, deftly muses on art, travel to exotic locations, nature’s gains and losses, the resiliency of spirit juxtaposed against the body’s frailty, the joys and discords of the familial unit, and aging without bitterness and giving “Praise/ to her or him who keeps, past sixty/ and in all weathers, an open heart.” This collection of abundant wit, insight, longing and passion is deservedly a special honoree of the 2013 Able Muse Book Award. PRAISE FOR CUP: In Cup we meet a poet of rare power and unique originality, unafraid of feeling, able to take on matters of the deepest consequence. Jeredith Merrin strikes me as admirably hard-minded, shunning poeticisms and needless wordage, delivering again and again the real thing. For proof, see the title poem, or the wonderful tribute to John Clare. Plunge in anywhere, and be regaled. —X.J. Kennedy, Judge for the 2013 Able Muse Book Award “. . . stanzas, rooms, lives./ And you,...