<div>Gaylord Brewer’s <i>The Poet’s Guide to Food, Drink, &amp; Desire </i>is an immediately delightful and surprising work by one of this country’s best poets. Indeed, the poet himself calls this book a “quirky volume,” the genesis being the desire to create something substantially different and sustained. <br><br>Since food “had been increasingly creeping into my poetry,” Brewer writes, and because he had been asked to write anecdotally about recipes by a journal editor, this unusual memoir took shape.<br><br>As is the example of his best poems, these recipes are every bit as enjoyable, memorable, and delivered—of course—tastefully.</div>