Surviving the Moment of Impact

"A very young poet who seems to have acquired a lifetime of experience while retaining a vast empathy (without a trace of sappiness) is a rare thing. These carefully calibrated poems have narratives, and form an autobiography; they have the suspense and fullness of short stories with knockout final lines. The locale may be specific (Midwest, semi-rural), the voice (adolescence on the cusp of adulthood) and themes (family, desire, exile) recognizable, but T. Cole Rachel makes the mundane feel urgent, fresh, vital. This is powerful writing by a witness wise beyond his years. The gripping poems are so good that you find yourself wanting the writer to try his hand at everything: films, novels, songs, plays‹they all seem within his reach." -- ­Bret Easton Ellis