Here is a poet who understands that 'The act of casting shape from chaos / breeds enemies.' That refers to Michaelangelo, but it stands in for the poet generally, and especially one of who has Tony Magistrale's gifts. Poetry is the enemy of bland, boring, mass-produced speech. It is language intensified to a level of combat with the world. And Magistrale has managed to keep up the fight in poem after poem. This is a bracing, sweet, dark, and always moving volume of poems. I believe it will affect those who read it deeply. It deserves a wide audience"--Jay Parini, Middlebury College.

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