This is the third poetry collection chosen by the editorial board of AGNI, a magazine "known for commitment not only to work of consistently high quality but to thematic subjects of crucial and lasting significance," as Joyce Carol Oates has observed. This year's book features Jennifer Barber's "Vendeval," Mark Bibbins's "Swerve," and Maggie Nelson's "The Scratch-Scratch Diaries." Each writer offers more than 20 poems, which not only makes for a well-rounded volume but provides enough work to let readers acquaint themselves with style and content. Certain themes recur throughout: direct language, a present-day air, and bizarre imagery reported with a straight face. The marriage of these three poets strenghtens the editorial voice of AGNI. Recommended for all poetry collections.?Ann K. van Buren, New York Univ., Sch. of Continuing Education, New York
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Review
"Whether she is speaking of a place, a picture, or an ordinary supper with friends, Jenny Barber's poetry is at once vivid and delicate. In a poem called 'The Storm at Sun Up' she writes: 'a skirt whirls over/the skirts of lettuces,/sensual and sheer.' With these two final adjectives, she could be describing her own work."--Linda Pastan
"Jennifer Barber's poems are sensual, attentive lyrics which move with a growing necessity and insight and surprise. I am grateful for this fine book."--Jean Valentine
"'The Pathology of Proximity' haunts the corrosive sweetness of urban night in Mark Bibbins's poems--proximity of lovers and their absence, torn phrases, 'thinning ice cubes,' 'the harvest moon, bloated and sexual.' Friends die of AIDS, 'Bluebeard sharpens his axe.' No wonder the narrator remarks, "I have always felt safer in transit.' Yet Bibbins also has the courage to stop, to pin down the always irrational present moment, and the reader is eager to follow, to inhale its scathing or enticing perfume. Swerve's tire-marks announce the arrival of a brilliant young poet."--John Ashbery
"Maggie Nelson brings a deft and unflagging wit to her writing and her powers of invention never quit. I love the way all she says keeps moving, insistent, often abrasive, like they say, and always specific. Can it get any better? I don't think so."--Robert Creeley
"Fresh, breezy, but edgy, here are Maggie Nelson's The Scratch-Scratch Diaries, full of disconnections and witty reassemblings. Do you wonder what the 21st century will bring to the poetic voice? Look to this talented young poet's alluring combination of deftness and vulnerability."--Molly Peacock
"Jennifer Barber's poems are sensual, attentive lyrics which move with a growing necessity and insight and surprise. I am grateful for this fine book."--Jean Valentine
"'The Pathology of Proximity' haunts the corrosive sweetness of urban night in Mark Bibbins's poems--proximity of lovers and their absence, torn phrases, 'thinning ice cubes,' 'the harvest moon, bloated and sexual.' Friends die of AIDS, 'Bluebeard sharpens his axe.' No wonder the narrator remarks, "I have always felt safer in transit.' Yet Bibbins also has the courage to stop, to pin down the always irrational present moment, and the reader is eager to follow, to inhale its scathing or enticing perfume. Swerve's tire-marks announce the arrival of a brilliant young poet."--John Ashbery
"Maggie Nelson brings a deft and unflagging wit to her writing and her powers of invention never quit. I love the way all she says keeps moving, insistent, often abrasive, like they say, and always specific. Can it get any better? I don't think so."--Robert Creeley
"Fresh, breezy, but edgy, here are Maggie Nelson's The Scratch-Scratch Diaries, full of disconnections and witty reassemblings. Do you wonder what the 21st century will bring to the poetic voice? Look to this talented young poet's alluring combination of deftness and vulnerability."--Molly Peacock
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