The Wages of Goodness: Poems

"Why it should have taken me four years to read a book of poetry as good as The Wages of Goodness I can't tell you. There are extraordinary excitements and depths of feeling, from "Matinee" and "A Walk on a Summer's Night" to "Cherries," which I have read over and over until it is a part of me."

— Daniel Mark Epstein

"Blumenthal writes in a style that is pure, simple, utterly accessible, loving, lyrical and full of emotion. This poet's fifth book is as notable for its moral gravitas as for its lyrical grace. 'Elegy for My Mother: The Days,' the centerpiece of the book, is a major poem that, while speaking from personal experience, moves us by addressing the human condition at its most essential."

— Library Journal