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"The Collected Poems of John Barbato, 1964-2002"
Just read "The Collected Poems". Caramba! A lot of neat stuff!! Terrific batting average, really, considering most verse collections are nauseating except for one or two poems. For what it's worth, I strongly prefer 1-page poems (hey, my list of artificial requirements for novels spares me "no end of reading".)

The Reading (p48), my personal favorite, begins:
"The old poet huddled in the corner,
eyes bruised like tombstones,
sat hugging himself and rocking in the corner."
This went straight onto my life list of all-time killer poems. (Does it mean I'm autistic?)

Other strong recommendations: 1990 Golden... More > Gate Visitation (p7), Sestina (p64), Sunday Morning at the Casa Chica (p79), Albertson's (p88), Backyard Boogie Woogie (p94), Sestina for the Abastos Mercado (p102), Dear Izta (p114), In the Museum (p115), El Grito de Juan Gallo (p119), mexico city is a boat (p120), Six fat tailed black birds (p127), My tongue has flown to the moon (p128), Funny Farm Blues (p144), Visible Magic (p146), & Tall man walking down a dusty road (p147).
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