Spring Hunger

In Spring Hunger Keith Liles arms his thirst with the outrages of our era and writes a searing poetry that refuses to behave as if the word is more important than the world. Earnest insightful and razor-sharp these poems arise from a sensibility in which ethics and aesthetics are never at odds. What an exciting skillful and substantial debut! Richard Hoffman poet author of Half the House: a Memoir and the poetry collections Without Paradise and Gold Star Road Wait-person poetry! Sentient wait-person! Wait-person informed and engage. But stop this is the U.S. not Europe isnt it? In fact its Alaska Vatican of American myth-making. Where then is the McPoetry Creative Writings contribution to U.S. mindlessness and ticket into its market? Nowhere in sight. Instead poems daring enough to write about dweebiness and risk being dweeby to do so that make use of the prose virtues as well as the forms and experiments poetry invites a young mans poems of navigating the disappointments and seductions of male identity in 21st century workaday Anchorage. Anything but cool Liles unruly intelligence makes us laugh look again rethink and finally remember why poetry has a long loved populist history in the U.S. Linda McCarriston poet author of Little River - Poems Selected & New Eva-Mary and Talking Soft Dutch