Criticism & Features

NBCC Reads

NBCC Good Reads 3 [The Long Tail] Ron Slate’s Poetry Pick

By NBCC


NBCC poetry award finalist Ron Slate weighs in with a poetry title for the NBCC Good Reads Spring 2008 list—recommendations from NBCC members, awards winners and finalists.

Reginald Gibbons, “Creatures of a Day,” (LSU Press).

April brings a pile of new poetry volumes, and Gibbons’ tops my list. It’s an incredibly ambitious and compelling book, broad in sweep yet personal, socially-conscious yet not sententious. Everything in this book is interesting—the stories and recollectons, the force of the voice, the struggle to be clear about experience, thought, and value.—Ron Slate