Pulitzer Prize finalist (2007) David Wojahn pens here a special guest review essay, which begins as a paen to Wave Books, fast aligning itself with the great old independent presses like New Directions and Grove, and then considers the lives and works Robert Lax and Lorine Niedecker. Wojahn has read long and thought deeply; it's terrifically bracing to absorb his fluency with poets and traditions, the ease with which he epitomizes lives, works and influences. Such brevity and compression only comes with the profound familiarity and respect.