"To be a teacher in a prison, as Brandon Lamson shows us in these grave and unsettling poems, is to take on something akin to the role of Virgil in the Divine Comedy. Like that earlier illustrious guide, Lamson views the inhabitants of inferno and purgatory with neither horror nor pity, and this terse objectivity pervades his position toward contemporary urban culture in general. Like Thom Gun, whom he often resembles, Lamson finds a way to view our cityscapes and their squalor as places of gritty amazement and serendipitously discovered wonders. Still, these poems insist that the Panopticon, the metal detector, and the searing light of history watch and scan our every move, indicting us all. Starship Tahiti is an outstanding debut."—David Wojahn, author of World Tree and Interrogation Palace: New and Selected Poems, 1982–2004
"Starship Tahiti immediately engages the reader, and from the first line, to the last, one hears an earthy calling. This collection travels, looping through headspace, with a measured, solid footing that only true genius dares or garners. These poems are risky, but Brandon Lamson knows something about the American psyche that exposes what we're thinking and feeling. This voice has been around a few sharp curves, and now he conducts a knowing music we can trust. And if we're looking for the truth, Starship Tahiti gets to the quick, but hones an edgy grace."—Yusef Komunyakaa, author of The Chameleon Couch and Warhorses
"Deftly crafted works of prose poetry that evoke feelings and images that are universal in their appeal and unique in their substance."—The Poetry Shelf