''Len Roberts is a poet of unwavering truthfulness and unwavering mercy,'' commented Sharon Olds about Black Wings, a 1988 National Poetry Series selection. Counting the Black Angels, Roberts's eighth book of poetry, is a piercingly painful and redemptive work in which he probes memories of a violent family history and his covenants with God and the ''Black Angels.'' ''Roberts's new work is among the most intelligent, moving, and expressive poetry now being written.'' -- Hayden Carruth
