The Book of Men: Poems

The narrative poems in Dorianne Laux's fifth collection charge through the summer of love, where Vietnam casts a long shadow, and into the present day, where she compassionately paints the smoky bars, graffiti, and addiction of urban life. Laux is "continually engaging and, at her best, luminous" (San Diego Union-Tribune).

from "To Kiss Frank,"
*make out with him a bit, this

is what my friend would like to do

oh these too many dead summers later,

and as much as I want to stroll with her

into the poet's hazy fancy

all I can see is O'Hara's long gone lips

fallen free of the bone, slumbering

beneath the grainy soil.*