Available soon: City of Water by Robert Thompson

The pleasures of Robert Thompson's delightful CITY OF WATER are the pleasures of the unexpected, whether disclosed in a romantic meditation on a beautiful life, in a Brooklyn trashscape, or in his son's nursery. Consisting of two long, capacious ruminations, "The Light of Things" and "Room with Red Andes," punctuated by short poems of a striking clarity the book chronicles an intensely alert mind whose perceptions range from the hilarious opening poem to the quietly devastating title poem with which it concludes.
            —John Koethe

Robert Thompson's poems have many admirable qualities, chief among them: a light touch. A light touch is only admirable when it goes against the grain, when it is something more than willful fun 'n games, or mere whimsy, when it undermines solemnity without sacrificing attention.

Like other New York poets, poets in New York, Thompson must find a way to respond adequately to the lacerating edginess of the urban. This he does with a diffident but not indifferent, slightly askew, slightly surreal diction, the effect of which is like someone whistling a tune in the midst of a traffic jam.
            —Ann Lauterbach

Study of Thompson's poems is always rewarding, because they are both serious and witty, fascinating in their allusiveness.
            —Sir Stephen Spender