Customer Reviews

The Hat City After Men Stopped Wearing Hats

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A master of craft, of understatement, of the startling comparison or perfect telling detail, he can condense an entire life into a handful of lines. And he manages to be funny even when writing about the things that might break us. For examples, be sure to check out "Connecticut Invaded By Chinese Communists (1951)," "The Sadness Associated with Crab Lice," and "Mr. Krok with a Wasp in his Ear."

Poems seek out some small redemption in even the most senseless loss. Consider "The Italian Woman Upstairs," whose subject won't make ravioli because her son died as an infant:

because they [ravioli] have chubby faces
with expressions you can never quite discern
and, straining for air, they get torn open
and fill the world with snow.

Highly recommended!

P.S. The Poetry Foundation just interviewed Surowiecki about his title poem, "The Hat City after Men Stopped Wearing Hats," and its (coincidental?) parallels to the Obama inauguration. You can listen at:
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