ÒBrian Dedora's Lot 351 is a tour de force by a master of his craft. Like the Beethoven sonata played on the Conrad Graf that Dedora references, the Òtempi, dynamics, and toneÓ of the collection move forward to a "finale" in which the "substance of its theme" becomes both "lost in a long gathering climax" and "reconstituted in all its simplicity"Ñthe simplicity of a past desire that was unfulfilled and, for that very reason, remains achingly real and deeply moving. A rare combination of intense feeling, precise observation, and keen intelligence, Lot 351 is also unflinchingly personal and enormously generousÑa lament so felt, poignant, and exquisite that it becomes a celebration.ÓÑD.M.R. Bentley, Professor of English, Western University