linda russo's mirth

linda russo's first perfect-bound book mirth arrived in the mail yesterday. those of us who've known her and followed her work over the six or seven years in which these poems were written have been looking very forward to this. and though i would never have denied the possibility, a first read-through proves that the book far exceeds even my own high expectations. i will certainly have more to say about this book at some point somewhere, but for now i can simply say that these poems have the smarts, the sass and the dissidence that distinguishes the recent books i love most, from alice notley's disobedience to bernadette mayer's scarlet tanager, from jean donnelly's anthem to lisa robertson's the men.