Station Zed

The AK wants to tell a different truth-a truth ungarbled that is so obviousno one could possibly mistake its meaning.If you look down the cyclops-eye of the barrelwhat you'll see is a boy with trousersrolled above his ankles.You'll see a mouth of bone moving in syllablesthat have the rapid-fire clarityof a weapon that can fire 600 rounds a minute. -from 'Oracle'Station Zed is the terminal outpost beyond which is the unknown. It is also the poet Tom Sleigh's finest work. In this latest collection, Sleigh brings to these poems his experiences as a journalist on tours of Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, and Libya. But these are also dispatches from places of grief, history, and poetic traditions as varied as Scottish ballads and the journeys of Basho.