Poetry. This new collection by Chad Hanson is populated with interesting characters in the tradition of Edgar Lee Master's
Spoon River Anthology
or Dave Etter's
Sunflower County
. The women and men in Hanson's poems, under the influence of a high plains geography, veer into remarkable transformations and unusual relationships—a dinner date with a waterfall or a spruce tree that goes off to college for instance. Both playful and serious, these poetic vignettes give us insight into the complex connections of our existence, THIS HUMAN SHAPE we've inherited.