2 Books Like Singing Lessons for the Stylish Canary

In The Cabin at the End of the World, Douglas Cole's latest poetry book with Unsolicited Press, we venture into prose poetry that is sometimes surreal, sometimes acute social commentary. In short, dreamlike snapshots such as "Game of Chicken," "Double Tree," and "Patrolman," we catch a glimpse of the ragged edge of American society; while longer poems such as "Notes for the Grey Man," "Casino People," and "Distances," take us into the possible future of a crumbling empire.

Andrew Bertaina is going through a mid-life crisis: failed marriage, child-rearing, self-doubt, ennui, the works. Naturally, Bertaina does what any of us would do; he draws inspiration from the poster boy of mid-life crisis chroniclers, the 16th-century essayist Michele De Montaigne, channeling misgivings into meditations, lostness into longing. The essays in The Body Is A Temporary Gathering Place deal with a variety of timeless and universal topics: e.g., how to woo a French woman on a train, male caregiving, how to cannibalize your spouse, and the riddle of time. The essays promise no answers. They do, however, strive to capture… show more.