Product Review

Poetry. "In the spirit of Whitman, Olds, and Levine, Tolan's first book of poems draws its conceits and concerns from the grit and sweat of the physical world. But it is also a haunting metaphysical litany... 'We are the new Jehovahs, gods of vengeance and small mercies,' he reminds us, 'who rose from the sea and walked, our lips salted thick with want.' His praise of the physical world is exacting enough to transport us to an Eden where flesh still collides, in ways unexpected, with spirit."—Dorianne Laux