A review by johndiconsiglio
The Incognito Lounge: And Other Poems by Denis Johnson

I’d love to hear Tom Waits voice the late-great Denis Johnson’s poetry. The in-your-veins imagery of bus stops, diners & dive bars would be a terrific fit. At its best, Incognito Lounge is a marvel of the Jesus’ Son maestro’s empathy for life’s losers through a whiskey-&-heroin haze. Self-indulgent, sure, but visceral too. “It’s beautiful Susan, her hair sticky with gin/Our Lady of Wet Glass-Rings on the Album Cover/streaming with hatred in the heat/as the record falls & the snake band chords begin/to break like terrible news from the Rolling Stones.”