I Don't Know Do You

Playful and direct, Montes's debut collection engages readers without sacrificing intellectual concerns. He celebrates failure and uncertainty, too; the "patron saint of failure" haunts the collection. But underneath his imaginative fervor lies the precarious tenderness of a young poet: "My world is a structure I build in such a way that when it falls apart it falls part gracefully." Many of Montes's poems are grounded in our contemporary political climate, underscoring positions like, "I am for whatever party says we owe ourselves and it's time to collect." Of particular note is the attention Montes gives trying to answer what it means to be a person. He delivers numerous possibilities, offering answers with radical parameters on what a person can be%E2%80%94whether personhood is defined by suffering a great loss in the digital age, ("On the internet my first reaction is to write death is dumb over and over. In the real world I felt the same."), or if it's based on participation in a community ("All poets are queer and if you're not a queer you're not a poet."). In a collection that demands answers to difficult queries, Montes merges beauty with sadness, reminding readers that "every exit is an emergency." (Apr.)