the poems themselves perform feats of derring-do*

I am love, love, loving Richard Garcia's collection The Persistence of Objects. I have a mad urge to quote each and every one of his poems just to show you (dear reader) how extraordinary they are. Since I can't do that, check out the first stanza of this sestina, entitled "Not Bad for a Hermaphrodite":

"The poem was scrambled during transmission.
Previously, it had been tied to a gate and disemboweled.
Some said it was a hermaphrodite
whose secret name was suspected of being an anagram
of a supernatural being, a quadriplegic
God, fond of anyone who dressed Goth."

Transmission, disemboweled, hermaphrodite, anagram, quadriplegic, Goth. Sounds like a dare, doesn't it? And yet, he pulls it off. Hooray for his poetic feats of derring do!
I love this book.

*Pulled from John Mcguire's pull-quote on the back of the book