While the poems in Steve Straight’'s new collection lead the reader "into the dark forest of memory / or onto the carnival ride of hypothesis, / or even right off the cliff of surprise," they maintain a sure course through the din and distraction of modern life. Bits of news from the natural sciences, chance encounters, and even the convicted felon and crafting queen Martha Stewart all fall under Straight’s observant eye. The result is a collection of conversational poems that lend a sense of wonder to the commonplace. Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the United States, says, "Every one of the poems in The Almanac achieves that rare thing in the streets of contemporary poetry: they are just plain interesting."

The Almanac: Poems

Literature & Fiction

Straight, Steve

Poetry

Curbstone Books 2

The poems in Affirmation find the remarkable in the seemingly ordinary, and, without glossing over the difficulties and hardships of living, articulate a hopeful vision of the world. In the poem "Telling the Bees," the speaker is "exhausted by the smoke of doubt and fear," and longs "to be stung again / by wonder, by joy." The poems in Steve Straight's book do just this for the reader.

Affirmation: poems

Grayson Books

Steve Straight's skillfully crafted poems cover a wide range of topics-love, marriage, family, work, and class issues. Not since E. A. Robinson has anyone captured the essence of the New England town with such keen observation. What gives this volume its distinctive voice is a Buddhist calm, tinged with irony and humor. Steve Straight touches the ordinary things of life with a magical whimsy and a delightful self-deprecating humor.

The Water Carrier

Humor & Satire

Curbstone Books

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Books by Straight, Steve