In Chris Vola’s You’re Going to Hate the New Apartment, a new collection of short form poems, some of which are haiku but all of which are inflected with a haiku sensibility—close observation and pared-back language—the use of succinct and abrupt language drives home just how all the mess and clutter and busyness of our lives become dust in our mouths, leaving us inside an uncomfortable, stark reality. Throughout the collection Vola’s lens captures the many interesting, significant, beautiful, humorous moments of life with surprisingly slant juxtapositions and the simplest observations, forcing the reader to dig deep into the collection’s elemental language through both direct and vivid imagery. Truly, Vola’s poems remind us of what matters—what we hear, see, touch, and inhale—the small details of everyday life with profound and quiet power.

-Ariana D. Den Bleyker, author of The Human Body Falls at a Rate of 32 Seconds per Second