Quiet Money

"McDowell's poems are arresting, humorous, and strangely surrealistic. They recall the work of poets like George Hitchcock, Charles Bukowski, and the early Robert Creeley. In one poem, a man makes "a withdrawal at Donut Bank"; in another, a librarian tells her patrons, "you are eating a marvelous story." McDowell also demonstrates considerable narrative power, as in the title poem, which concerns an unknown aviator in the Lindbergh era. Other poems chronicle our more recent era of broken marriages, lost jobs, and urban violence, a world of cordless phones (his favorite image), " People magazine and peanut butter/ Squares." This is an intriguing first book, original in its phrasing and unfailingly sensitive to the pathos and humor that define our lives. Recommended for larger collections." —Daniel L. Guillory, English Dept., Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc., Library Journal