Michael Hettich is one of our best and most necessary poets because his
dreamlike stories remind us how little we truly see and how often we
sleep through the day's deep revelations. This collection--so tightly
choreographed and flawlessly written--is like a long poem that shines
brighter with each turn of the page. By book's end, one is desirous to
know more clearly those mysteries of the inner vision, and to bring a
keener awareness to the fraught and fragile natural world that is ours
to inhabit, nourish, and preserve. To Start an Orchard is a call to
arms, demanding consciousness, responsibility, and love. --Richard Jones