With a skill for pacing and a flair for turning a phrase, Spencer Short's Tremolo is a refreshing blast of poetic air.

His imagery focuses his poems as pictures in the reader's mind. Some of his comparisons -- “I’m three fingers gin, one finger tonic. I’m one stiff drink” -- are so good that you will want to add them to your lexicon, while his observations are piercingly accurate and show a depth of perception rare in modern poetry, as is the case with “Understand just being empty doesn’t make you a vessel.”

The poem "Noir" combines all of the above-mentioned skills in one graceful, sinuous story. Within fifty-two lines, Short manages to quote Lao Tzu and mention Abbott and Costello -- and fuse the two references with profound adroitness.

Poetry lovers, do yourselves a favor. Read Tremolo by Spencer Short.