When Godine published it in 1982, William Logan’s first book of poems, Sad-Faced Men, was greeted with national acclaim: “These are the poems in Prospero’s drowned book” (Richard Howard, The Nation); “Poem after poem, Logan writes like an angel-an elegant, literary angel, precise and musical” (Donald Hall, Iowa Review); “Sad-Faced Men is a first book not to be ignored” (G.E. Murray, Chicago Sun-Times)
In this new collection of poems, Logan again demonstrates his suppleness and subtlety. Here are the same arresting images and indelible places. Here, too, is a poet who is challenging without being inaccessible, serious without being pompous. This is the work of real talent, reaching and searching, but always in full command of voice, tone, and pitch. This is, in short, a collection that should be received with genuine rejoicing, the work of a young master well on his way to a great career.
“William Logan’s is an assured talent, and Difficulty…marks a greater intellectual concentration and technical advance on Sad-Faced Men.”
— Simon Rae, Times Literary Supplement