Usually documenting the experimental otherstream, occasionally Bob Grumman's Runaway Spoon delivers a gem of, by comparison, traditional work. The Colors In The Sky is one such gem. Eshleman is honest and direct, without copping an attitude, which is refreshing in itself. His poetry is drawn from daily experience, memory, and the eddies of his own thought; it is full of true characters and just plain truth. One poem, somewhat atypical for this collection, is a set of instructions for writing poems, which instructs us not to write poems about writing poems. Such dry and self-inclusive humor is not uncommon here. Eshleman is no ivory tower poet, he breathes the same air as everyone else, with the notable exception that what he lives and breathes is the raw ore from which this intelligent, incisive book was wrought.--Jake Berry
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
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