Paper Route and Other Poems

I was a little worried about this chapbook–the photo on the cover is nice and everything, but the ghost words superimposed on top of it (“all dying,” “nostalgia,” “light of lamp-posts”) are enough to make anyone apprehensive. Thankfully, what I found inside was a consistently good bunch of poems. Chris almost tricks you into them with well-chosen words and phrases that aren’t obscure, but that aren’t obvious either. More often than not, they’re beautiful but a little disturbing; poems like “garner, nc” and “late summer afternoon in southern kentucky,” start off innocently descriptive and take you somewhere sad and almost painful. Really good and really strange. (Emma Healey)

Poetry chapbook, $4.50 , Chris Michalski, [email protected]