BERTHOUD, CO -- Howling Dog Press has just released THE DEATH OF SARDANAPULUS AND OTHER POEMS OF THE IRAQ WARS by David Ray. The book, said Michael Annis, senior editor of Howling Press, is a "literary document--a litany and a lament--of lasting clarity and poignance. The volume is a work of political expose, offering the poet's grief and artistic compassion toward the betrayed muse of history. It is a work of rare force, truth and beauty, a model of achievement for poets of today, a tribute to brave bards of the past, and a legacy for the future of literature."

Author William Heyen added, "This is a relentless book infused with more enlightenment than the author gives himself credit for, a book that knows we have chosen the barbarians within ourselves as our masters. Indeed, in deed, after such knowledge, what forgiveness?--only the dispensation of powerful and necessary poetry, as here."

$20 ppbbk, 240 pages with dust jacket & center foldout. Order from Howling Dog Press, POB 853, Berthoud, CO 80513-0853 or from David Ray, 2033 E. 10th St., Tucson, AZ 85719. For information on other books by David Ray, visit davidraypoet.com