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Cool Menthol Woman is a great little collection of haiku and poetry that needs to be read by more people than will probably ever hear of it. It's a shame, not only for undiscovered writers like Howard Hall, but also for poetry lovers like me, who are forced off the beaten path to find fresh poetic voices. In a literary world where new voices rarely get the attention they deserve, and the same old voices get reinforced regardless of merit, Hall's voice rings with a lyrical quality. Cool Menthol Woman sheds insight, emotional recognition and even a tinge of humor on everyday subjects. It's not perfect, but for a fledgling effort it rings truer than many of the more established modern works of poetry. The most glaring fault I can find in this book is its brevity, but even that disappointment is offset by its modest asking price.