What do you do when a poem selected at random from a book written by a poet you don't know and purchased at a whim takes you completely by surprise? Well, if you are me, you drop everything and start reading the rest of the book. At first (again, if you are like me) you flip through the pages stopping at odd intervals and reading to make certain what you read was not a fluke. Then, after it's confirmed that there is something to the book and poet, you go to page one and start reading. That's what happened with me when I picked up my recently arrived copy of Michael Meyerhofer's book, Blue Collar Eulogies.

When I started reading the book from the beginning I started to see a pattern emerge. Meyerhofer is going about the business of taking everyday observations and connecting them to the rest of the world with such a confidence it is simply astonishing. The opening poem, "The Trouble with Hammers" starts off simply enough, but within the confines of a single poem, the reader is treated to the myriad of subjects Meyerhofer finds intriguing. What is more, he does not seem to be frightened by the prospect of the poem being more than a single thought. Meyerhofer lets the poem wander from one thought to the next in an organic stream of consciousness vision. This is not the exception in this book ,but rather the rule, where Meyerhofer succeeds in creating a place where all things, it is discovered, are connected through his experiences.

On a personal level, I cannot help but identify with much of the poet's sensbilities, especially when he reveals elements of his difficult childhood. Whether it is the school bully, poverty, or the awkwardness of building social skills, Meyerhofer is very open about the events which colored his youth. What's more, is Meyerhofer knows exactly how much to give the reader, never over saturating us to the point where we become tone-deaf to his revelations. Each time something new is revealed, more is desired. Take the early poem, "The Crayon Not Taken." Here, Meyerhofer reveals the painful truth and cruelty of how children sometimes treat each other. Yet he does so with a sensitivity equal to the task.

On the way to your grandmother's,
you told them about the stupid boy in class
who forgot what color pumpkins were,
and because you always played by the rules,
now you are wealthy and married.

I, on the other hand, have lived
in the back seat of a '99 Cavalier in late July
when heat melts the life from the seeds
and, because it has no place else to go,
it wrestles through the soil for air.

This book delivers in scope and execution. Michael Meyerhofer is an excellent poet, confident in his voice (whether it be confessional or wandering, or both) who has a lot to say about how we view the world and how we are now is a result of what we have been in the past. It's a very Hegelian thing to say, and when it is done right, as it is here, the notion seems so natural. His command of image and tone are incredible. The book sets the bar high from the very first poem and is able to meet its own expectations, as well as any I could have had as I continued to read poem after marvelous poem.

One measure of how great a book is: you loan it out and it's passed from person to person so many times that you never actually get it back. Honestly, this is usually not the fate of a contemporary poetry collection. But Michael Meyerhofer's poems have the goods to transcend the usual boundaries of audience, and that's why I'm on my second copy of Blue Collar Eulogies. I'm sure it won't be the last one I own, either.

The sheer range of subjects and references at Meyerhofer's command makes every poem in the book a neat surprise. Ancient pottery in one poem, keyboard shortcuts in another. The size of whale brains in one stanza, The Kingston Trio in another. The ancient Egyptians in one line, Pedialyte in the next. But his movements are so natural, so perfect that you barely notice them. Then you backtrack, reread, and you're amazed how far you actually travel in a Meyerhofer poem. Yet, every poem is grounded in real human emotion at the same time.

This is great stuff from one of the best poets going right now.