Mass For Shut-ins [Paperback]

Poetry. Todd Robinson has written such tender love poems in MASS FOR SHUT-INS that you might read them to your significant other and hope for success--a veritable Neruda of Nebraska. In 'Skin,' the speaker is 'a soft / ravening / hominid torched / by rosewater/ & coconut oil.' The poems are no less fervent toward the old sod, beautifully evoking the contemporary Midwest. He feels 'the jolt of coal trains / through the gut of steaming America.' A splendid debut. --Therese Svoboda

Such a bounty of intelligence and pleasure packed inside here! These are deeply lovable love songs, odes to friends and lovers, the sounds of crickets and grackles, BB guns and boozy evenings on the Plains. To me they manage to be cheerful even when they're heartbreaking. So here's to you, Mr. Robinson. --Kurt Andersen