Trouble in HistoryPaperback, 1 April 2000

Poetry. There is a sweetness lurking in the melancholy of David Keller's poetry, and a sharp wit lurking around the sweetness, that makes his work authentic and wise. 'It is awful being human,' he says, and helps us bow to this inevitable fact. Then he reminds us about the 'light we can feel/ but not explain, like joy,' and the music that also comes with the territory of being alive. TROUBLE IN HISTORY is a book that will make you say 'yes, this is how it is,' again and again. -- Alicia Ostriker