Invasions: New Poems

I just finished Kirsch's book on confessional poets "Wounded Surgeon", so I had to see what his poetry was like... very thought out style, no wasted words. It's nice to read contemporary poetry with substance.

I've liked Adam Kirsch since buying The Thousand Wells a few years ago. I mean "liked" in the way that you like a friend. There's much to admire, and even his flaws are interesting. Kirsch writes with traditional meter and rhyme, an ambitious undertaking when the world is awash in lazy free verse. Sometimes his earlier efforts were a bit stilted, the meter too sing-song, the rhyme too pedestrian. But Invasions shows a growing mastery of the art, and happily, as Kirsch's poetic technique has matured and deepened, he feels free to be himself, to be playful, and to use the poetic form to express his own voice. Highly recommended.

I cannot recommend this book highly enough. As editor of the Contemporary Poetry Review, I encounter several hundred new books of poetry each month. I can attest to the fact that a very slim few ever attain the level of accomplishment to be found in this book, its author's second collection of poetry (he is also the author of two books of poetry criticism). Highly recommended!