While the poems in Steve Straight's new collection lead the reader ""into the dark forest of memory / or onto the carnival ride of hypothesis, / or even right off the cliff of surprise,"" they maintain a sure course through the din and distraction of modern life. Bits of news from the natural sciences, chance encounters, and even the convicted felon and crafting queen Martha Stewart all fall under Straight’s observant eye. The result is a collection of conversational poems that lend a sense of wonder to the commonplace. Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the United States, says, ""Every one of the poems in The Almanac achieves that rare thing in the streets of contemporary poetry: they are just plain interesting.