Keith Taylor

continued

But in "Hockey: An Apology," Taylor remembers bloody, hour-long fights on the ice among "farm kids . . . from cold places." With a note of gratitude, and of close escape, he concludes "they all became/good fathers and never beat anyone." That's the kind of redemption Taylor offers: not heaven, but ordinary goodness in a rough and disappointing world. These poems are gems.

Keith Taylor reads from Guilty at the Rapture at Shaman Drum Bookshop on Wednesday, April 5, and at Crazy Wisdom Bookstore on Wednesday, April 19.

[Review published April 2006]