Clan Cauldron

William Carey's collection, full of love and joy, weaves past and present with lush detail and poignancy. Family members play a significant role in many of the poems, sometimes being addressed by the narrator, such as in the opening poem, when he speaks to his mother at her funeral, or in touching scenes - of how he misses his son's cello playing, now that he's grown and moved on, or watching home movies of himself as a boy. Humor springs up frequently, often in the context of aging, as in "you knock 70 on its duff," and in the final poem, when the narrator spies himself in a mirror and wonders who is "that foreign infiltrator eyeing me blankly." A variety of poetic styles and lengths keeps our attention as we turn the pages, and the honest, personal details pull us into each piece. -Kate Hutchinson, editor-in-chief, East on Central and author, A Matter of Dark Matter