In this haunted and haunting book of initiations, James Ciano takes on a past and a subject matter seldom encountered in poetrythe harsh, glaring, unpoetical world of grueling masculinity. With John Keats and James Wright as two of his guides, he uses the transformative power of poetry to confront and transfigure his longstanding demons. This deeply humane collection left me shaking, shocked, and enthralled.Edward Hirsch, author of Stranger by Night
James Cianos exquisite debut, The Committee of Men, offers striking meditations on masculinity reminiscent of B.H. Fairchild and Philip Levine. Brilliantly tender, after reading it, this collection will compel you to do as the speakers beloved asks: Start again, from the beginning. Nicole Sealey, author of The Ferguson Report: An Erasure
In poems that slalom vertiginously between tenderness, self-reproach, an insiders vexed relationship to toxic masculinity, and love, James Ciano portrays with great deftness a young mans coming-of age. I never said yes, but I never said no, admits the speaker as he tries to understand, without making excuses for himself, a past that troubles him. Reading these wide-ranging, unpredictable poems, I find myself swept into a world of boys and men pressured to perform a certain kind of masculinity; I also find myself terribly moved by the speakers vivid, unsparing, and ultimately loving portraits of his family, with whom he seems both insider and outsider. The emotional depth and maturity of these poems is a remarkable achievement, one that speaks from a pact of silence rarely broken. Perhaps what I most admire is Cianos unwillingness to point fingers, holding himself accountable as he carries his readers into a mind aswirl with grief, longing, disbelief, and empathy. Catherine Barnett, author of Solutions for the Problem of Bodies in Space
