In this moving, wide-ranging, and intensely personal collection of poems - his first - President Jimmy Carter opens to us his very private and reflective world. Always a Reckoning is sparked with wry and sometimes bitter humor, warmed with tenderness, and glowing with an intense and passionate caring that is born of an awareness both political and sensual.

The final days of a cherished hunting companion. A cortege of leather-clad motorbikers mourning a gentle and courageous woman. The death of a father and the memories of his son. An old and proud black woman teaching a young boy the art of fishing and the art of life. A heartwarming tribute to his wife, Rosalynn, whose smile "still makes the birds forget to sing/and me to hear them." A newly fledged politician trying to change the ways of a small and stubborn town.

It is in images such as these that we see President Carter's belief that it is poetry that teaches the writer "art is best derived from artless things." And it is the knowledge and awareness acquired long ago that there is "always a reckoning," that everything in life must be in balance - in art, in politics, in friendship - which permeates this book. Illustrated by President Carter's granddaughter, Always a Reckoning is a collection that will touch, amuse, surprise, and delight its readers.