Primarily a novelist, Mr. Brand writes descriptions of the countrysides of Provence in poetry nearly as casual and conversational as prose. Sunlight and history, bread, a courtroom scene, traffic, wind, the bombing of the Citadelle at Sisteron, and fire and rain in a drought-parched tinderbox landscape, are among the subjects treated in this relaxed style. People and dialogues pass in and out among the sunlight and olive trees, sometimes revealing short stories about themselves, and sometimes merely part of a hot, still, ancient world. A drowsiness emanates from both the scenery and the meter, suiting the dry timelessness of Provence. The author's poems have appeared in Poetry, the New Yorker, and various anthologies.