John Poch

I knew we had to recommend this poem as I read it--the great piece "The Difference at Cafe D'Arthe" by John Poch in Rattle, issue 43, Spring 2014. This type of poem shows it's intelligent in small luring movements, drawing you in until it explodes in incredible moments. For example, it begins with an excellent line and a epigram/beginning notation:

Seville, Spain

Except for coffee, light never forgives the dark.
[...]

Here, at the bar, even a driver of dangerous liquids

can find a robust, fertile rest so river deep,

his gaze darkens [...]

Then the poem continues on, swirling like Andrei Codrescu's infamous descriptions of NOLA until it gets to an incredible ending section that is excellent:

[...]

This one’s lover must be rough, her hair the scent

of a midnight sea-port, her love-talk

a dirty old story of graffiti on graffiti.

When she dances for him some nights, she must look like

the aftermath of math. The answer, naked

and not wanting. [...]