Controvertibles by Quan Berry

Controvertibles, poems by Quan Barry (Pittsburgh): The poems in Barry's second book springboard from a wealth of subjects as the speaker seeks to close the gulf between the concrete and the abstract; whether interrogating the Shroud of Turin, meditating on seahorses with "fused jaws & stalked eyes argentine," or revisiting the murder of Emmett Till, Barry's poems consciously challenge linearity as a construct to delve into matters metaphysical and moral. With unflinching intelligence, Barry coolly regards civilization's savagery: "Only in some worlds this poem could earn me a sentence of death by beheading as could your reading it." —Cate Marvin