Mrs. Nussbaum’s Monkey

Frank Lehner's new book, Mrs. Nussbaum's Monkey, is a Pittsburgh pastoral. It is a love poem and a field guide to the unknown landscape that exists beneath and beyond the truisms about blue collar, industrial cities in America. Here, Lehner is the Whitman of his city. "I dress in the sacred garment of streets," he writes. And he drenches those streets in tenderness, generosity, and a welter of unexpected detail " Mrs. Nussbaum's Monkey is a tribute to the unknownness of place, of the many surprising places this industrial city represents. This book is an eloquent revision. A revelation. -Lynn Emanuel,