The Flatness and Other Landscapes

A son is born too early, as if coming up over the horizon before his own dawn. An elderly father lingers at life's other horizon. In language dense and clear, playful and somber, and with a formal exactitude and emotional amplitude suggestive of his own musical training, Martone traverses these horizons with a musician's as well as a poet's ear.

Being from the midwest, this collection of meditative, lyric essays is particularly interesting to me. Martone's depth of sight and ability to stick on an image and draw connections here is fantastic. This is an exploration of windmills, farms and farming, mythology, the landscape itself, wire, and a number of other fab images. If you're a midwesterner, or are at all a fan of Martone's work, this is a must-read. Even if you're not from the midwest, this has lots for you. It's not parochial or podunk in any way; instead, it's a beautiful and serious treatment of so many things.