News at Eleven: You are crying for something in the past.

Fair enough. Your mother is dead here.

A praying mantis eats through a leaf.

They've changed over the streetlights

to the safer, apricot-hazed ones.

Bang your fist on my heart if you understand.

This is powerful. This is Gontarek at his best. The narrative voice is so distanced from the grieving person that the two can only communicate through a desperate physical gesture.

from The Philadelphia Inquirer: A slight volume of poetry nonetheless is heavy going (by CE Chaffin, shown)

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