High Water Mark

Everyday mindreading, a house full of Buddhas, and the papaya scent of the soul. An interview with Custer at a place of his choosing, probably a steakhouse. The ability of dogs to smell the uncool. Hitlers barber imagines what might have been if only hed leaned his weight into the razor. An oblivious Coronado narrowly avoids an ambush on the American plains. Freud lecherously lifts the skirt of a Mexican housekeeper who has far too much work to be bothered by a pillar of modern thought. Or just some dirty old man.In lesser hands such disparate elements might fly wildly out of control. But in David Shumates understated, brilliant prose poems, they come together in miraculously vivid riffs. The narrator of the title poem rhapsodizes, I wouldnt mind seeing another good flood before I die. Its been dry for decades. Next time I think Ill just let go and drift downstream and see where I end up. Shumates deft and refreshing collection takes us to amazing places with its plainspoken meditations.