Playful, witty, and exuberantly alive to the joys, griefs, flavors, textures, confusions and enthusiasms of middle-class American life in the 21st century, Jen Karetnick's deft and delightful poems offer a rich cornucopia of pleasures for the senses and for the soul. Her vivid formal intelligence and keen eye for detail, combined with a deep yearning to live well-to waste not a moment of our precious gifts of life and love-lend her poems a unique and even startling power, and remind us that "When you jump the surf / during happy hour on Palm Beach / with a cocktail in your hand, / the curls are raw meringue / cresting a curd of sand. Palate-stung, / you must taste each wave as it comes..." The ordinary world is vivified in these smart poems, in fresh and vigorous ways. -Michael Hettich, author of Systems of Vanishing (University of Tampa Press, spring 2014) It is rare to find a collection of poems which combine sensuality, wisdom and wit, but Karetnick's new collection: Brie Season does just that. Though her work is laced with acerbic wit and gentle wisdom, the inherent sensuousness of food and drink is the lens through which much of this book is filtered. Her exquisitely crafted poems reach in and touch the reader on a deeply personal level, then expand out to include perceptive geopolitical commentary. There is no doubt that this work will delight gourmands, but there is more than enough in this feast of words to please every reader. -Susannah W. Simpson, author of Geography of Love & Exile (Cervena Barva Press, fall 2014)