Poetry. "Cycholl's descent in HOSTILE WITNESS into America leads us through baseball parks and boxing arenas, along the banks of rivers and back alleys to smoke-filled room political deals as only a poet of Cycholl's power could manage. The collection is masterful and epic—and ultimately essential"—Bill Allegrezza. "With an anger that cauterizes the wound, Cycholl has plumbed the depths of darkness and corruption in recent times. He lives with our good songs and knows our most radiant light as well as our compromising and disabling impoverishments. It is with a profound compassion that he reveals our vapid will to be cold and do harm. And crucially, HOSTILE WITNESS lays bare our possible terrifying future, so as to help us navigate a way to a better place"—Roberto Harrison.

Author City: HOMEWOOD, IL USA

Garin Cycholl's recent work has appeared in Admit2, Rain Taxi, EXQUISITE CORPSE, NEW AMERICAN WRITING, and Seven Corners. His books include HOSTILE WITNESS (BlazeVOX Books, 2009), RAFETOWN GEORGICS (Cracked Slab Books, 2008), and BLUE MOUND TO 161 (Pavement Saw Press, 2005). Since 2002, he has been a member of Chicago's Jimmy Wynn Fiction Collaborative. Cycholl currently teaches writing and literature as a lecturer at the University of Illinois at Chicago and as a visiting lecturer at the University of Chicago.