Poetry. "These poems are like the New York poet who wrote them: accomplished, metropolitan, eclectic, and street-smart. David Katz is the wizard who waves to us from a carousel of forms that he has mastered, and we go with him, taken by the craft and persuasion of his art. He's at home in the halls of finance and old bookstores, at ease with both Steve Jobs and Rimbaud. His poems know how to laugh, but they are informed by the bitter wisdom of maturity. He depicts poor, struggling souls caught up in the 'creative destruction' of the marketplace, where profit uncouples from trust and 'Nothing's out of nothing made, / And no one's bills are promptly paid.' In the crush of startups and carve-ups, people get cast aside, like the employee of 20 years who gets shown the door in 'At the Chophouse,' a heartbreaking tour de force. But the redemption is in the poetry, and Katz pays homage to the guild: Auden, Hardy, Pound, Breton, Ginsberg, and Frank O'Hara."—John Foy
