In poems that celebrate survival and renewal, Ernest Hilbert summons the ageless conflict between human affection and the passing of time, recognizing that all we love must eventually disappear. Tender poems of fatherhood weigh against unsettling explorations of natural dangers and intimations of bodily harm. From porn sets to seedy gun ranges and heavy metal tribute nights in crumbling theaters, Hilbert's eye roves over the desolation and beauty of contemporary America, all the while feeling the irresistible pull of water--what Melville called "the ungraspable phantom of life." "Ernest Hilbert's Storm Swimmer is a gleaming cornucopia of dreams, nightmares, tenderness, and grace. It is a book of great feeling and of great technical skill. Everything in it is sacrificed for poetry, which is why everything in this beautiful book lives."--Rowan Ricardo Phillips, author of Heaven and judge