If you assume that the very worst of "trite navel-gazing as 'edgy' contemporary poetry," perished in the 1980's, or if you think that self-indulgent dinosaurs like Robert Bly have gone the way of Edsels, you obviously have not read "Human Rights". Joseph Lease's collection of poems reminds the reader that for every fabulous book of poetry published in North America, there are 1000 books like his--products of the workshop industrial complex. It is apparent that the poet takes himself very seriously and demands that the reader do the same. But since the book lacks intellectual rigor, and its language is hackneyed, its conceits dull, "Human Rights" does not earn the "right" to be taken seriously. A really lousy and pretentious read (although the pretentiousness has unintentional hilarity).

Human Rights, the new Zoland book by the poet Joseph Lease, is a wonderful, resonant book. He powerfully weaves verse forms and blocks of prose, themes political and personal into a larger humane tapestry of meaning and imagination. There are no false steps in this book. Joseph Lease's lines quiver with power, and the reader can feel them hours later, still shaking, like an aftershock. His voice is as immediate as any we have.

Human Rights, the new Zoland book by the poet Joseph Lease, is a wonderful, resonant book. He powerfully weaves verse forms and blocks of prose, themes political and personal into a larger humane tapestry of meaning and imagination. There are no false steps in this book. Joseph Lease's lines quiver with power, and the reader can feel them hours later, still shaking, like an aftershock. His voice is as immediate as any we have. Human Rights is a exciting, knockout book of poems.