Mainstream

Right from the start, Magee's work bristles with the spirit of improvisation. Everything about it classic poetry chops, a serious sense of humor, unabashed rawness. Mainstream is thrilling because it can turn in any direction at any time, moving effortlessly from wacked units of thought turning inside out to tender moments of highly focused nonsense and song that get, paradoxically, straight to the point. The frames we bring to these poems can't remain intact stanza to stanza -- and in this instability there are great poetic pleasures and possibilities. --Drew Gardner