Book excerpt: This new collection of lyric poetry uses the idea of the threshold moment as its central metaphor. Chitwood's threshold moments can be anything from the instant when a rock being held up by a frozen pond melts through and makes its plunge to the moment when a child realizes his childhood is lost forever. The poems demonstrate that these moments can bring about changes for either better or worse. Chitwood describes this collection as a hymn to both the joy and loss that can be found in these transitional moments.