Words That Mattered in the Moment

Nicholas Skaldetvind weaves through his verse a voice that is immediately and delightfully contemporary at the same time threads allusions to the dead poets he admires tucked into his poems as in an urban birds nest. Longing for Romantic heights his speakers voice is both richly mellifluous and mundanely self-deprecating-less D.H. Lawrence and more Prufrock-balancing between poignancy and humor. Some images are fresh liquid lucidity while at other times Skaldetvind seems to recognize that the modern poet is inevitably a tourist among the great artifacts of the language. This is a vital and worthy volume. Paul Schreiber Poetry Editor Two Thirds North