RaveNew City LitIt’s beautiful to watch lines of poetry surprise and delight that narrow and expand the reader’s perspective, while being self-aware and self-assured ... The reader is thrust into the ever-changing world where the speaker has so many different ways to admit that his emotions are varied and difficult to pigeonhole ... Regardless, Leidner makes grand, cinematic gestures that are relentlessly amusing, because he juxtaposes the merging of simile and metaphor with everyday, domestic acts ... Leidner’s comedic tone is effective in both long and short poems because of his puncturing acknowledgment of the real world and punctual timing. Whether a poem is reimagining Albert Einstein’s biography, or if World War II was fought \'entirely by karate chop\'...the reader will most likely experience comedic irony, heartbreak and suave honesty ... These poems expand one’s perception of what a poem can be while reinforcing a lyric quality that is accessible and pleasantly addictive.
