~Yusef Komunyakaa, Magic City (Wesleyan, 1992)

I really did love this book, and I feel really bad because Yusef just had a reading with Rodney Jones out in Pasadena that I forgot to tell my brother Josh Mossotti about.  It’s a damn shame too, because Rodney said it was a great time—said Yusef got him drinking bourbon.

            ~TM

           ~Louise Glück, Wild Iris (Ecco, 1992)

I wasn’t much of a fan of her until this book.  I heard from a little bird that the book only took her six weeks to write…probably doesn’t account for revision.  Anyway, I enjoyed it.

            ~TM

          ~James Kimbrell, My Psychic (Sarabande 2006)

Kimbrell had a mighty fine reading at this years AWP.  My friend and colleague Kerry James Evans (Featured Poet: November Vol. 1 #1) was recently accepted to Florida State University’s PHD program where James Kimbrell and David Kirby are in residence. 

          ~TM

      ~Bob Hicok, Insomnia Diary (Pitt Press, 2004)

I had a chance to see him read at AWP in Chicago, and it was quite a delight.  I love a reader who has the ability to deliver on what is promised on the page.  Hicok was just such a reader.

            ~TM

          ~Campbell McGrath, Pax Atomica (Harper Collins, 2004)

Originally, I bought this book as a gift for my cousin Armand (http://sonicreducer.net/ & http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zNOhPPMmmQ). Armand’s a real crazy rock n’ roll juggernaut type, and I was right to assume that he and this book had a lot in common.  I have since purchased it for my brothers (http://joshmossotti.com/ & http://matthewmossotti.com/#), which is only going a long way to say that the book makes a great all around stocking stuffer.

          ~TM