<DIV><p>Drawing upon Kerry James Evans's experience in the military, <I>Bangalore</I> speaks from the position of a natural class warrior who came of age desperately poor in some of the most hardscrabble parts of our country. Whether highlighting a barracks argument about gays in the military or contemplating pent-up eros, the poems are experientially political in the best sense.</p><p><B>From "Lilacs and Razor Wire":</B></p><p><I>Bent over in a folding chair, my arm a rag of oil, I scrape the carbon from my M-16with a pipe cleaner here in the armorynamed after a young Colonelwho hanged himself.</I></p><p><I>No one sitting here really knowswhether or not the Colonelwas a homosexual. I bring up my mother-in-law, who is.</I></p><p><I>Outside the window the local convictshave decided to mow down the lilacsblossoming along the roadside.</I></p><p><I>We go back to talking about homosexualsand homosexuality, and I say: We are all a little gay, which lands meon the floor in a wrestling position . . . </I></p><p><B>Kerry James Evans</B> served six years in the Army National Guard as a combat engineer. He received his MFA in creative writing from Southern Illinois University–Carbondale, and is enrolled in the PhD program in English-Creative Writing from Florida State University. He lives in Tallahassee, Florida.</p><BR></DIV>