Saturday Review: “The Speech of the Place,” a review by David E. Poston of Britt Kaufmann’s Midlife Calculus and Tony Robles’s Where the Warehouse Things Are in NCLR Online Winter 2026
David E. Poston’s charts a poetic lineage from Peacock to Campbell to Chen Chen to Britt Kaufmann’s Midlife Calculus and Tony Robles’s Where the Warehouse Things Are, pointing out, “Each of them repurposes that speech [of the place] to fruitful ends for both themselves and for readers.”
Poston notes how “In the esoteric language of mathematics, Kaufmann finds a way to explore and express these struggles” in the midst of Covid-era tutoring: “Yes, there is a formula to measure the volume of a glass, but learning how to measure a life is a different matter:
I have learned enough, now,
to measure precisely how much it holds,
the irregular curves –
less the difference of the holes life left –
and yet, my heart is still full.“
Poston then moves to his review of Tony Robles’s Where the Warehouse Things Are. Poston admires the joy in the collection, saying, “Laughter is a thread throughout this collection. … More often the laughter sprouts from joy and shared experience with people whom Robles has clearly come to love.” The enjoyment the reviewer experiences reading this collection is clear through.
Poston ends the review with “But more important than quadratic equations or Allen wrenches are the stories they articulate with kindness and insight. …Kaufmann and Robles have accomplished what the best poetry has always done: expanded our awareness of the human condition.”
Read the full review here and buy Midlife Calculus and Where the Warehouse Things Are from the publishers or your local bookshop!
