The quarterly review ""MELUS"" said of John Yau, ""[his] poetic and critical writings...present an intriguing site of investigation into questions of racial authenticity,"" while ""Publishers Weekly"" has described Yau's poetry as ""[l]anding somewhere between the surreal-noir aesthetics of David Lynch's Mulholland Drive; a kinder, gentler version of J.K. Huysman's Paris decadence; and the aggregated syllables of Jackson Mac Low's overheard New York..."" In ""The Passionate Spectator"", Yau turns his attention to some of our most renowned poets and artists, such as John Ashbery, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Robert Creeley, and Frank O'Hara. The eleven essays herein include: ""Passionate Spectator: On Frank O'Hara's Art Criticism""; ""At the Movies with Weldon Kees and Frank O'Hara""; ""The Poet as Art Critic (On John Ashbery and Frank O'Hara)""; ""Feelings Are Not Quiet (On Robert Creeley)""; ""Robert Creeley and George Baselitz's Signs""; ""Philip Lamantia""; ""Archie Rand's 'The Letter Paintings' ""; ""Street Song: The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Poetry of Kevin Young""; ""The Poetry of Jessica Stockholder's Titles""; ""The Poet Painters: Francesco Clemente and Nicola De Maria""; and ""Open Books: (On ""Emblems for Robert Duncan"" by Jess).
