by Edmund August.        Wind Publications, 83 pp, $14.00

In Moon Dogs, a rich collection of verse, Louisville poet Edmund August's strong voice resonates with the wisdom of a writer who aches to conquer his demons. Whether recalling his own infidelities, recounting his desire to rescue his daughter from heartbreak and to reach his autistic son, or responding to his deceased father's hell-bent wrath, August reveals his penchant for facing hard truths.

The poems in Moon Dogs are, by and large, set in Kentucky, and the locales reflect their narrators' psychic states. Of Light, a meditation, is set on Elkhorn Creek, and Blue ticks, an elegy to life itself, takes place on territory all readers traverse . . .

L Elisabeth Beattie, a Louisville writer and reviewer, is the editor for Jefferson County Public Schools.