Rhythm & Booze: POEMS (National Poetry Series)

This volume is selected by Maxine Kumin as one of five volumes published in 2003 in the National Poetry Series. Arranged in four parts - each associated with a particular Louisiana city - the poems in "Rhythm & Booze" trace the hardships and uncertainties, as well as the moments of unexpected sublimity, of a life lived in a continuous struggle between fresh starts and destructive old patterns. Mirroring the music of New Orleans, Kane's poems combine traditional form with improvisational flourishes. "Rhythm & Booze" charts her progress as she undertakes a number of journeys, from youth to experience, from blues bars to college classrooms, from city to country, from chaos to something approaching peace.