I've enjoyed several of Monette's collections of essays, so I thought I'd give his poetry a try.

Later: I have to admit that I found Monette's introduction more to my taste than most of the poems; he describes the process he took in writing these and other poems, including some "furious drafts composed of pain and rage" written while his lover Roger was dying. One poem he describes as "a gift of outrage", others as "lobbing poems like pipe bombs". I can feel his emotion more from his prose than his poetry, though, in this and in other books, which probably has more to do with the way I read than anything else...

The contents are selected from previous collections, newest poems first; this makes the differences in tone and style more apparent. The newest poems feel painful to read - undoubtedly part of the object, but it doesn't help me to appreciate them. Perhaps I'm confessing to being a poetry wimp, but I found the gentler, more structured "My Shirts" much more to my taste.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I plan to drop off a few books at the recycling-center swap shed, if it's open; if not, I'll donate them to the Got Books container, where they may wind up at one of the site's retail stores - or perhaps even farther afield... Hope the finder/buyer enjoys the book!