Last Call

Review In Last Call, Nathan Kozach examines our quick-to-bicker and quick-to-judge culture with a zoom lens. His speaker pokes fun at what is holy to some: the brand of Christianity that insists the winter holidays are only for Christmas; the vegan who judges bacon eaters; our convenience stores filled with Funyuns and Fritos; and, of course, our bars where we numb the past and the future. The world is a mess, and like the speaker’s love, we are spewing our laundry across the floor, making it messier. But Kozach cuts into our daily lives with such a sharp wit and with such concise and fine-tuned lines that we don’t know whether to laugh at ourselves or be horrified. Or both. Leah Nielsen, author of Side Effects May Include     Experiencing Nathan Kozach’s Last Call is aptly similar to a drunkard pulling you into his confidence. These poems grip and twist the front of your shirt and aggressively breathe truths too close to your face that you didn’t know you already agreed with. Kozach’s confident voice and liberal use of the second-person creates an intimacy that, at times, makes you shift uncomfortably in your barstool wishing for the titular proclamation. But, as the poet explains, a last call isn’t an end, “It is actually an opportunity,/ a chance to change your mind.” David Walker, founding editor of Golden Walkman Magazine