Chosen by the government as a consultant on poetry, "Words by the Water" is an anthology of one of the great American minds of poetry, William Jay Smith. Drawing on his massive experience as a man and a scholar of poetry, he presents some of his own, and fails to disappoint. "Words by the Water" is very much recommended reading for poetry fans. "Contemplation of Conspiracy":Where the table-leg projects into the yellow autumn/sunlight/like the poor premise of an argument,/the plotters gather, rotting wood at a creek's end/tirelessly planning the devastation of the spirit,/wiring the heart for a final explosion.//Where can they lead you but over the bridges of beetroot/into the country of spiders?//Do not follow them to their camp pitched in a cranny; bring your fist down hard on the table .../ and send them flying.