Andrew Levy's writing is exhilarating, particularly his new Ashoka (in Sanskrit, "the active absence of sorrow"). This poem recognizes the baffling varieties in discourse and emotion as vistas upon which to play for the ensemble - a lyric ensemble listening for the intimacy it creates and maintains. Ashoka is among my favorite of Levy's books, CONTINUOUS DISCONTINUOUS -CURVE 2 and ELEPHANT SURVEILLANCE TO THOUGHT, but it also implies the radical work of his recent PAPER HEAD LAST LYRICS. Manuel Brito, in Tenerife, Spain, has produced another impressive book for his Zasterle Press, with beautiful cover art by Luis Palmero entirely befitting the writing inside.

-- Patrick F. Durgin