Shahid Reads His Own Palm

the long version

“Betts doesn’t just have a powerful story to tell. He is a true poet who can write a ghazal that sings, howls, rhymes, and resonates in memory years after it was first read.” —Jericho Brown, <em>On the Seawall</em> “…these poems in turn sear and moan, are impossibly restless and at times starkly silent.” —<em>American Poet</em> “There’s an authority in Betts’s voice that carries us, and his voice is governed by boldness and consonance.” —<em>Devil’s Lake</em> “…restrained though fierce talent…surprising and emotionally resonant…” —<em>Publishers Weekly</em>