John performs his poems so well that now when I read them they perform themselves. His stuff is wonderfully accessible to all of us who begin our critiques with "Well, I'm not a poet, but..."

These poems span the years, and when I open the book halfway, I get to the ones I most recognize. They cover the ground from alien childhoods to bebob to breasts to North Dakota. John spaces out on wonderfully familiar and funny topics. There's nothing here so la-di-dah or refined that a middle-aged, middle-west, middle-smart guy can't understand.