In When I Go West, William Sheldon compiles nearly twenty-five years of poetic reflection into one august volume. These poems present snapshots of a life well-lived-working in one's garden, wandering through the woods, admiring the gift of an "orange-pink sky"-guiding readers to appreciate the simple joys and quiet beauty of life and reminding us how we are part of the same cycles as all of the natural world: birth, growth, and eventual decay. To Sheldon, death is not something to be feared, but rather a natural and necessary part of life. Ashes and compost will feed the next year's crops, and "purpose is assured only in the ground." In When I Go West, William Sheldon compiles nearly twenty-five years of poetic reflection into one august volume. These poems present snapshots of a life well-lived-working in one's garden, wandering through the woods, admiring the gift of an "orange-pink sky"-guiding readers to appreciate the simple joys and quiet beauty of life and reminding us how we are part of the same cycles as all of the natural world: birth, growth, and eventual decay. To Sheldon, death is not something to be feared, but rather a natural and necessary part of life. Ashes and compost will feed the next year's crops, and "purpose is assured only in the ground."