In Tamped, But Loose Enough to Breathe, Mark Todd explores the interaction of man and nature with obvious delight. Whether it’s grit and unrestrained passion of men laying the railroad, or the hope and despair of young love, Todd’s poetry tells stories. His poems traverse the sculpted landscape toward ridges, which once crested, fall away to a moving view. “It’s watchful journeyed roads/that can draw in our thoughts,/naked honestly fixed/ on what each bend brings, each/ lurch in the grade ahead./ Roads worth the traveling.” Todd’s poetry is of the land, and of the generous spirit and humor characteristic of the West.