I went to the library last week to check out some new books of poetry to read on my bus ride to and from school:

Invisible Bride, Tony Tost

Shelter, Laura Jensen

Snapshots for a Serial Killer, Robert Peters

Sleuth, Elaine Sexton

American Linden, Matthew Zapruder

Granted, Mary Szybist

The Porch Is a Journey Different From the House, Ever Sasky

Goodnight Architecture, Gretchen Mattox

I just finished Tost’s book this afternoon. I was really taken with it. It had a nice tension between an autobiographical I and this overpowering data-obsessed voice. I think “Unawares” is one of my new favorite poems ever. The whole book felt very Calvino-esque to me: waxing philosophical at times, playing with conventions of narrative, etc. An enjoyable read, and very different from most everything else I’ve read lately.

I started Shelter but I’m just not getting in to it. Jensen’s poems seem very flat to me. And this may be because they’re spare lyrics, which present a challenge to me personally as a reader, so I’m going to stick with it and see if anything resonates.

I would love it if people would drop some good, contemporary reading suggestions in my comment box as they think of them.