Metropolis, 16-29

Robert Fitterman's poetry, like the man himself, is urban, sophisticated and eclectic. This second volume of poems from Fitterman's award-winning Metropolis project ranges far and wide over the cultural geography, from Milton to Black Mountain to conceptual art to Objectivism to the Steve Miller Band to the Kootenay School of Writing and back again. In addition to Fitterman's solo explorations of poetic possibility, this volume of Metropolis also contains a section of Cedars Estates, a visual poetic collaboration with designer/artist Dirk Rowntree.Fitterman uses poetic form like a pro golfer uses clubs, carefully selecting his tools to address particular aesthetic challenges, propelling his sentences over obstacles in great singing arcs of words. This is a truly urbane poetry, fully cognizant of the aesthetic and political conversations that carry on around it, ready to engage with any serious argument. Generous, polyglot and full of possibilities, Book 2 of Metropolis is essential reading.