Poetry. California Interest. Absurd yet rational, Anthony Seidman'sI WILL NOT BE A BUTCHER FOR THE WEALTHY is an uncomfortable indictment of contemporary America, and truly, this collection shows the relevance of poetry as political criticism. Writing on the plight of post-industrial landscapes, colonial impositions, and US politics, Seidman's poems are situated in the Surrealist tradition of French and Spanish writers such as Lorca and Desnos, remaking their system of poetics to describe our frighteningly illogical world. Though images of mangoes, Minotaurs and zeppelins float past us, it is easy to recognize American's own current nightmares in his metaphors.