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"Sixty-six is a good enough number to start with..."
This collection, Sixty-Six, is a wonderful selection from William Haskins' body of work. Largely somber in theme, it never lapses to the maudlin, which could pass unnoticed in the same way it's easy to miss the accomplishment of a perfectly held en pointe. It's a highwire act with no net. In its restrictions, excellent poetry, especially of weighty subjects, is unforgiving of the slightest misstep.

Natural rhythm and stunning internal rhymes highlight what he does best - control language to illuminate his topic.

Mr. Haskins' poetry is the perfect antidote for numbness. A read through Sixty-Six will put the senses... More > on high alert, but expressly for the sake of electrifying those connections between what we see and hear and feel to what we think. And the effects of this medicine can wear on for hours to days at least, and maybe forever if really taken to heart.

The opening and closing poems are absolutely brilliant, and among the rest, a few of my personal favorites include: La Femme Qui Pleure, Ode To Roadkill (ingeniously funny and impossibly serious at the same time), Panem Et Circenses, Provocation, oh it's useless, this list will go on too long.

Sixty-Six is simply a must have for contemporary poetry enthusiasts. And for those who may still think that modern poetry isn't for them, Sixty-Six may gift this artform to them for as long as they both shall live.
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