My Favorite Things

The exuberant follow-up to the poet’s first novel, My Favorite Things is his fourth collection of poems: a book celebrating lovers, music, moonlight, and the joy of our finding the words for them

“[Morin’s] writing cuts to the core with electrifying force . . . A promising and powerful new voice in American poetry.” —The Free Lance-Star

Opening with a rangey homage to the classic song “My Favorite Things” (the poet’s lines don’t include Julie Andrews singing it, but do include “Kittens with rayguns and novels with laughs / Saunas with windows and cakes by the half”), this book encompasses favoriteness in all its forms. From the hilarious “Kale Gaze” or a poem to “Ducking” (the autocorrect for a sex word that will change how we see ducks forever) to the mysterious “Tons” (“one hundred million / feathers / that weigh the same / as love”), the poet uncovers the dazzling variety of our jokes and wishes, the proof of our desire to talk to each other and be understood. It’s our language, these poems tell us, that shapes our happiness, when it comes, and allows us to give our secret, dreaming selves to our beloveds. 

In four sections, mirroring the four tracks on Coltrane’s famous record by the same name, Morín lays down playful, naked, and profound lyrics. Whether he’s considering a lunar halo, his “Dad bod,” or Ella Fitzgerald’s version of “But Not For Me,” with melancholy strings to make hearts ache, these are all love poems. The unabashed delight and magnetism of that love on the page makes this a collection, Morín’s stellar best, for all time and all readers.