New and Selected Poems of Thomas Lux: 1975-1995

Every poet, published and journal-scratching, can learn something from Lux. The funny thing is, I don't think he poses himself to be the epitome of American poetry. This is solid, amazing work. He should be read in the schools. He should be read at the beginning of every hockey game. This book should be owned by you.

Reading this collection one gets a sense of how Lux has changed over the years and how those changes have affected his poetry. His keen sense of focus, his delight in learning something in a poem, the playful titles... all remain, but the polish, the craftmanship gets better and better. Thomas in print, Tom when you meet him and hear him read - you will laugh at his reading, picking up lines you missed yourself... Try starting with his poem "The Voice You Hear When You Read Silently" and see if he does not make you aware of that voice AS YOU READ the very poem about that voice. Son of a milkman, read "The Milkman and his Son" and then one to his unborn daughter (p.113) and then her little girl rhymes in "Criss Cross Apple Sauce"... then pause a moment to consider his own childhood in "Refrigerator,1957"... So, it's all from his own life, you ask - another of those confessional poets of the 90's. Not so, says I - find a complete bio in these pages and you are under the influence... it's from YOUR life, I say - and mine, of course. Chronological? Hardly. Even the poems start with the new and look back. Writing this here on the computer I am losing my thoughts because I am getting caught up in the book sitting beside me... read the book, read a few poems each day, make copies for the uninitiated of the poem he wrote for them. I cannot give it a 10 because Lux would not give it a 10 - where could he go from there?

Tom Lux is the best-kept secret in American Poetry. Has reading poetry ever poetry frustrated you? Were you taught poetry is some kind of impressive sounding puzzle only a specialist could understand? Well, you must read "New and Selected Poems 1975-1995", because these poems will confound your experience with boring, academic or overly allusive verse. To "get" these poems, you won't need an overpaid theorist to explain them to you, all you need is your experience as an every-day human being. It's the poet's job to bring the poems alive, make them clear, and engage the reader, and Lux does all this with verve. The subjects of the poems are wide ranging, (as skimming the above list of titles will reveal) but Lux never shallowly uses a subject for its shock value; all the poems honestly and intently explore. The diction is sharply focused, the metaphor surprising, and the sound harmonious and pleasant to read (yes you will actually enjoy saying the poems), but the key to Thomas Lux's poetry is the voice, the resonant from-your-chest, angry, needling, amused, serious, tender and wry voice. But here I am, telling you what the poetry is like, not what why its valuable. You should read this book, aloud and often: its music will please your mouth, the subjects will intrigue you, and the poems as poems, whole utterances, will make you feel very much alive. RJ McCaffery