Last night I enjoyed a fine poetry reading at The Book Lady Bookstore. Shane McCrae read several new poems, as well as selections from his latest book, New and Collected Hell (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2024), a book-length poem.
McCrae read well, but not excessively dramatically, and was honest and responsive in the Q&A. No bullshit.
McCrae is a formalist, preferring meter and rhyme, but primarily meter. His use of iambic pentameter is interesting and stimulating, not just a repeated and boring beat.
I bought and started his new book, and am enjoying it.