Trouble behind Glass Doors: poems

Poetry. The book's poems detail rewards, challenges, and disappointments of life, especially in Missouri and the Midwest, as well as meditations on Midwestern nature and geography and on the ironies of the poet's place in contemporary culture. "The title says it all," says Bargen when asked sum up his newest book, "the ways that we fail ourselves, each other, sustaining ourselves on the earth, are there for all of us to see / read, if we will just open our eyes and minds. I hope the panes of these poems are clear enough for all to see through."