A New Kind of Country

Kyle Schlesinger's poems and prose texts speak in a voice that gets beneath the skin of these times, pointing us in and beyond ourselves. " The words are in the body / The body is in the mind" he tells us. And " What's on television" he asks, then admits " Just another hallucination." Green light and pink lighting permeate this work. " You wouldn't believe it / If I told you / That I was where / You thought you were / When we heard the news." We need these words of Kyle's to help us shoulder that news-- fake and otherwise-- aimed at us each day. The twoline poem, " Split," is worth quoting in full: " We were / Now we' re." And poems such as " It's a Freak Out" deliver a sophisticated humor. A wholly original book. -- Margaret Randall