In his third collection, Michael Robins unleashes the couplet to bring the pastoral past into the modern day, aligning images of grazing buffalo with those of torture and war. In the intersection between reality and imagination, with violence flowing like an river beneath us at all times, these lyric poems offer associative and sonic shifts that drive the speaker’s narrative insights. Like a mad chef on a tear, Robins concocts small poetic miracles using equal parts wonder and terror. His dishes are meticulously crafted and served up with gusto. We cannot help but relish in them.