"A superb mill-town poet" Okay, so this isn't even hyperbole when I tell you that I think Jim Lineberger is one of the absolute best living poets right now. Partly because he's not too wrapped up in the poetics of verse, although the man's got his own definite rhythm. He's got a thousand stories, maybe more, and his poetry is this vehicle he uses to tell all kinds of weird tales. There are down-south stories, hollywood tales, sex acts, there's the constant vein of aging and dying, both people and the places they live. There are wonders of youth and perversities of age. You can google his name and see a lot of his work posted online. There is a nice collection of it here: http://www.thievesjargon.com/content/authordetail.php?author=106 I read a lot of poetry, and not too much of it has hit me like Mr. Lineberger's work.
