tonight upon a midnight surf   we ride on light clumsily waltzing to a spastic keyboard symphony . . . surf's down tonight (StLaurent, "Surf's Down") Lovers on a burning bed Have no need of milk or bread All the groceries they require Are delivered by desire From the eager, open shelves Of bright lips they help themselves Freely, since there is no end To the purse that lovers spend. (Kluge, "Lovers") "Industrial Strength Love" and "long pigs" by Quast, "My Vice" and "Fashion Parade" by StLaurent, "Let Other Poets," "Tight Nuts," and "How Does a Man Love" by Kluge are all built on conceits. Of the five, Burton is most capable over a wide range of themes and styles (including snippets of prose dialect), most settled and confident in his subject matter. This is the important factor of success the modernist style of Williams and Pound. Quast is exceptional in his story poems, in the mode of Al Purdy. Earl is least confident in his subjects, gravitating to abstractions in treating love, which is his main theme. But "Early" and "Sunday" are accomplished nature poems. StLaurent is the master of contemporary angst, a poet focussed very clearly and with sharp irony on the peculiarities of today. Kluge gravitates to the gnomic, working his perceptions into aphorisms. These five poets may at present be their own best audience, but with this anthology others are going to want to listen in. If the protocol holds, a Crows II, and chapbooks, are inevitable. As a fellow aspirant to the inner circle, I'm looking forward to reading these productions.

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