What I’ve Been Reading This Week<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n FOUR POETRY BOOKS. I had a little extra reading time, and I had a lot that I was excited about on the ol’ TBR pile. Turns out, I was right to be excited. Lotta poetry to talk about, so let’s not waste time. I read Mouth<\/em> by Amorak Huey, Army Of Giants<\/em> by Matthew Rohrer, Ghostographs: An Album<\/em> by Maria Romasco Moore, and John’s Table<\/em> by Lesle Lewis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mouth<\/em> by Amorak Huey: <\/strong>another banger from my guy, dude just writes really good poetry. Amorak does all the surprising language things, the unexpected word choice or just-right metaphor, but he isn\u2019t afraid to slip a well-placed line of heaviness or hard truth. It\u2019s the kind of poetry that could easily end up on the only Instagram account worth following, Poetry Puppets, but it\u2019s very very far from \u201cinstagram poetry (derogatory).\u201d This collection focuses a lot on desire\u2014hunger, sexual desire, dreams\u2014without being overwrought or creepy. This may come as a shock to some people, but there are men out there who are capable of understanding sensualism while also Being Normal. This is the third Amorak Huey collection I\u2019ve read, and I\u2019d recommend them all wholeheartedly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Army Of Giants<\/em> by Matthew Rohrer:<\/strong> this is the first full collection of Rohrer\u2019s poems I\u2019ve read. His chapbook They All Seemed Asleep is one of my favorite long poems ever written, imaginative and mythic and epic in scope even at 40-some-odd pages. I\u2019ve also read the collaborative chap he wrote with Joshua Beckman, Nice Hat. Thanks\u2014a masterclass in short lyric writing that doesn\u2019t take itself too seriously. Both elements are present in this collection. I never know if I\u2019m using this word correctly, but the word mythopoetic comes to mind when reading these poems. There\u2019s a narrative, New York-school quality, but also some dreamy, surreal aspects. These poems have a casualness that lulls you into wanting to read quickly, but don\u2019t\u2014the language is surprising, the juxtapositions singular. Idk dude, Matthew Rohrer writes incredible poetry. Grapevine has it that he\u2019s a really great teacher, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Ghostographs: An Album<\/em> by Maria Romasco Moore:<\/strong> I have wanted to read a book like this since maybe 2009? Sometime when Spencer and I were together in a thrift store and he was marveling at the boxes of old photographs. Personal photographs, that somehow ended up in a thrift store. Later, when I worked the warehouse of a used bookstore, I\u2019d find pictures forgotten in books. What to do with this lost media? Write poems around it, obviously, was my thinking. Moore went out and did just that. These poems\/prose pieces\/whatever they are (this is a Rose Metal Press book, the genre is MIXED) immediately have a haunted quality to them. I haven\u2019t seen Backrooms\u2014even the YouTube videos\u2014but I imagine this is the effect. A lot of these poems have hallmarks of a remembered childhood: hide and seek games, scary-lookin neighbors, mothers who bake regularly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n John\u2019s Table<\/em> by Lesle Lewis: <\/strong>I love a book that presents itself simply, then forces you to slow down and think. Each line here is its own 1.5-spaced stanza. No caesuras, nothing too complex-looking. Often declarative statements. Poems between one and three pages. But oh my god, each line! Every one complicated by the previous line or the next, or sometimes flipped on its head mid-line. There is no \u201cknowing\u201d these poems, even if they *can* be read relatively quickly. And yes, I said \u201coften declarative statements,\u201d but there are so many incredible question lines in these poems. Stacks and stacks of questions. I love a good question in poetry. Ask more questions, dear poets. Read Lesle Lewis for inspiration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n LINKS!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Something to listen to while you browse? Hey, TV On The Radio is a cool band. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"four](\"https:\/\/www.lazyandentitled.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_7549-1024x768.jpg\")