Rhythm and Blues by David Stephenson, recipient of the 2007 Richard Wilbur Award, is a compelling and provocative collection of poems which examine our post-industrial culture and consciousness from varying perspectives and in varying poetic modes. As James Fowler comments, "Like the machinery he often contemplates -- a metaphor for our own workings and breakdowns -- Stephenson's poems are formally sturdy and complex." Yet his various and meticulously crafted poems are far more than just accurate observations of the peculiar world that surrounds us because they not only delineate our failings, but they also strive for transcendence. As Fowler explains, "Through it all, Stephenson avoids bad faith and cautiously seeks grounds for its opposite.
