As a Columbia University-trained attorney, Kresky was always a gifted speaker and writer, best known as one of the country's foremost legal authorities on political reform and the concerns of independent voters, candidates, and parties. But when he, his wife, and two close friends left New York City and purchased a home in rural Washington County in upstate New York, Kresky-- a poetry lover since childhood--was inspired to begin a new journey as a poet and started a blog, aptly named poemsforfriends.blog.

In this collection, his poems bring us with him onto the Battenkill River, where he shares his challenges and insights into the joys of fishing. His gives us the beauty of his surroundings while also decrying the tragic state of our world. He shares stories about his loves, his friends, his heartaches, and his disappointments with honesty and compassion.

When diagnosed with esophageal cancer, his life, and that of his loved ones, took him on a whole new journey. His work from this period is touching, honest, hopeful, serious, lighthearted, sad— everything that life is. And everything he chooses to give.