NH Poetry: Northerners

John-Michael Albert, 8th Portsmouth (N.H.) Poet Laureate, author of The Bird Catcher, New and Selected Poems (Moon Pie Press, 2012) and Cardamom Cravings, Notes for an Autobiography (Sargent Press, 2012), recommends Northerners by Seth Abramson (Western Michigan University Press, 2011).

"A superb follow up to his previous book The Suburban Ecstasies (Ghost Road Press, 2009). Abramson displays a command of simple language that continues to grow beyond mastery. Abramson served as the editor to The New Hampshire Review and is a well know essayist in defense of contemporary poetry. The poems in Northerners draw from his experience as staff attorney for the Office of the Public Defender in Nashua. Here is the panoply of humanity, observed and reported by a compassionate and cool-eyed member of the parade. One of my two favorite books of poetry from 2011. (The other was Patricia Smith’s Blood Dazzler.)" -- John-Michael Albert

This post is part of our celebration of National Poetry Month 2012 for which I asked New Hampshire poets and booksellers to recommend books of poetry by Granite State poets. These titles are generally available from local booksellers and may be held in public libraries as well.