In this postmodern 'sermon on the mount, ' Hermenegilde Chiasson has created a tour de force at once compassionate and complex, thoughtful and illuminating. A meditation on what it means to be human, "Beatitudes" explores the common bonds of humanity, probing our notions of who we are and who we might become. Beginning in mid-sentence and ending not with a period but a comma, "Beatitudes" extends beyond time and space, with beautiful lines that continue to resonate long after they have been read.