Things That Happen Once by Rodney Jones

Philip Levine recommends
Things that Happen Once, poems by Rodney Jones: "Rodney Jones is a new and long overdue discovery of mine. With wit, charm, and great resourcefulness, he writes wonderfully uncluttered poems that pay tribute to a rich cast of characters, from Aunt Madge to Melody, 'the teenage welfare mother down the hall.' His poems of a Southern boyhood and coming of age are as good as those of Dave Smith's, though in no way indebted to them. 'The End of Communism' is the impossible American political poem, written without rancor, sentimentality, or forgiveness. In this collection Jones does a great many different things and does them all with great artistry and modesty." (Houghton Mifflin)