News of the World by Philip Levine

I picked this up from the Newport Beach Public Library new book shelf–they continue to get fantastic modern american poetry. I really liked the cover and was excited that Levine was still alive–I had thought he died in the 1980s.

The book is excellent, but rather pedestrian–a lot of New Yorker style poems without much to challange the reader or remind one of why Levine was such a great poet initially–those working class americans who do not really work or something seem to be missing, if that makes any sense. I did like the last poem about unloading box cars with zoo animals.