A confession: I have been depressed lately. Not in my private life, but in those hours I spend every couple weeks or so attending events where people read their poetry aloud. Usually they’re reading to the same fifteen people that always attend these things, and often it’s the same stuff I’ve heard a dozen times before. 

That’s why I am excited to say that the cure for this particular, specialized depression of mine just might be in this ninety-plus page document right here. endo (poems and sketches 2007-2011) is the third book by Pittsburgh author John Thomas Menesini, and I am glad to say that he’s grown quite a bit as a poet in the years since I reviewed his first collection, The Last Great Glass Meat Million. This work is a terrific illustration of what really excites me about the medium: it contains heartbreak (what doesn’t?) but it also contains humor — maybe even a little vaudeville. (“the longest year I spent / was a month in Cleveland,” hey-o!) A good belly laugh now and again is essential to a person’s well being, and it is something that is something that is sorely missing from most poet’s repertoire. With this latest collection, that is most certainly not the case.

Most poets put their heart into their work, but very few put their whole body into it. Johnny does, and you can sure as shit see that reflected in this volume. It’s an accomplishment.