New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. dj. SIGNED hardcover first edition - A collection of poems by this award winning writer which form a book of journeys - from innocence to experience, from youth to age, from confusion to clarity, and occasionally from defeat to triumph. The title poem refers to the ship which brought his mother to Ellis Island and America (this book is written in her memory) The first part of this collection includes a re-creation of the Detroit factories, machine shops, and neighborhoods of his early years. One of the most vibrant regional poetry movements in the late 20th century United States - centered in the rather unlikely California Central Valley city of Fresno, and strongly influenced by Philip Levine. "The Mercy is a book for the twenty-first century, revealing the diversity out of which Americans emerged" (Kate Daniels, Southern Review) SIGNED on the half title page. Notes, 81 pp. ISBN: 0-375401385.