Structure of the Embryonic Rat Brain

Winner of the Fence Modern Poets Series

Dear Chris,

I’m in the hard core of my own writing, the idiot for everything else, in quite a happy state, and immediately when I started to read your rats, very strong, congratulations, I realized, I would be pushed out of my abbaissement mental (a Jungian term for being in heaven, out of one’s mind), cannot afford it, please forgive me, it’s not a good time for me for this, I try to fly, then I have readings in France, please forgive me, With my best wishes, your book will be very visible,
—Tomaž Šalamun

Janke is one of a very small handful of younger poets whose work manages to be both technically striking and humanly moving–there is always something miraculous about this combination, but these days it’s especially heartening. I’ve been wishing his work would receive more attention, and am glad to see that happening now.
—Franz Wright