Michael Rattee

Rattee knows that life is not devoid of whimsy. Chasing after a bus can seem like a karmic sentence, and a dream can be more real than the daily grind. There’s angst here too, for his personae are on the edge, the existential edge, afraid to be left behind, and aware of the inevitable failure of most of our hopes. This book is an important addition to our nation’s poetry of concern for all life.

Hand assembled by the author, the book features a poem in four parts covering the seasons and full-color illustrations by Gene Riggs.

Part of the Greatest Hits National Archive from Pudding House Publications, the chapbook includes twelve poems selected by the author from thirty years of writing. Each poem selected stands out in a unique way that is detailed in the author's introduction.

In these fourteen poems, Michael, the father, and Kiev, the son, say the kind of things to each other that cannot be said on the telephone, through letters or email. Their ideas, hopes and feelings inspire the other to poetry, which in turn inspires another poem.

Rattee’s poem “Reinventing Light” begins with the day being turned into ink for the night to write stories with. These magical poems are written with some of that night ink — part dreams, part dazzlingly clear vignettes of everyday experience.

If “You desire music made without metal/ Something light and airy like a divers hair,” this is an excellent volume for you. It has an oriental touch in its delicate and lovely sparseness, and something of the surreal in its familiar yet dreamlike geography.