Teeth by Aracelis Girmay

Teeth, poems by Aracelis Girmay (Curbstone): The glorious and free-spirited poems of Girmay's first collection move headlong beneath "bejackled" skies, spurred by passions so generous and unhindered as to recall Neruda's magnanimous lyrics. With acrobatic ease, the poet swings from praise to lament, always returning to the heart's motivating ardor for the larger world—its liars, its companions—to champion Love's greater force: "I am sure / my heart was kicking, but there was not / one afternoon I did not climb back up & shove both feet / into the dark Us of your saddle. . . ." —Cate Marvin