skeeter bit & still drunk

Travis Stephens is a people's poet, a reader's poet, a writer's poet. He's as grounded as the "grey rime of clay and gravel," but equally capable of lyrical flight. Raised in the heartland, tuned to the warble of frogs, Stephens also writes knowingly about the ritual dance of Californians waiting for a table at NOBU. This collection marks the emergence of a distinctive and powerful new voice. -Douglas Foster is an associate professor of journalism at Northwestern University and the author of After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa