Drift: Poems by Joel H. Vega

Here is a poetic voice that is undeniably mature, characterized by sophisticated articulation on a variety of thematic motifs—from architecture to anatomy and various other aspects of science—but also beholden to a deep humanist view of contemporary concerns. Excellence of utterance leads to subtle gradations of discovery in these meditations. –Alfred A. Yuson Joel Vega’s collection of poems is notable for several reasons. One is the architectonic balance of the collection, the words planed and the lines filled with such tensile grace. Another is the use of science—that coldest and most logical of fields—to enquire into the intimacy of selves ‘like two deep valleys bearing the bright peaks of slow-moving continents.’ The third quality is the elegant diction and the pitch-perfect tone, found in poems where the human anatomy is seen as through an X-ray of words. This is a fascinating collection of poems. –Danton Remoto "Drift" immediately resonates for the collection’s willingness to t