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The Importance of Peeling Potatoes in Ukraine Mark Yakich (Penguin) There are a lot of overtly political poems in this book, poems about Iraq and suicide bombers and embedded journalists and Leni Riefenstahl, and each one is written with a freshness and urgency that smacks you in the eye and heart. "Whoever duct-taped kitty with the C-4 must've / Thought himself a genius. And who wouldn't / Send an animal to do a mortal's job? / By mortar lake and budding sky, kitty stood there. . . . Shrapnel brushed by / And plastic bags rippled instead of flags. She / swayed back and forth at the entrance to the hotel," writes Yakich in "Patriot Acts." His poems might rant and curse, but they're filled too with narrative tension, fizzing language and a sly humor. He's got a unique voice that combines knowing moral savvy with a sense of outraged innocence: "Don't toss kitty into the recycling / Bin because she didn't complete her mission." {Los Angeles Times, 5/25/08} |