Jim Daniels' new collection Birth Marks (BOA, Sept. 2013) is "an unflinching look at urban life through poetry," according to a press release by Carnegie Mellon University, where Daniels is the Thomas Stockham Baker Professor of English. "In ... Birth Marks, Daniels captures the gritty culture of working-class urban life. He uses the 39 poems to take readers on a tour of post-industrial Detroit and Pittsburgh to tell the tales of cities and their residents who came out swinging when the economy collapsed around them." The release quotes Daniels: "I have always been interested in ordinary people in ordinary circumstances and the small moments in their lives that create a subtle shift in perspective ... Place has consistently been a big part of my work, and it is again. I hope the title Birth Marks reflects this - hope we are marked by the places we come from. I try to bring these cities and people to life in a way that may make readers see beneath our cultural stereotypes." Click here to watch a video, exclusive from Carnegie Mellon, of Daniels reading seven poems from Birth Marks. Click here to see the full CMU press release. Newly printed copies of Birth Marks are now available at the BOA Bookstore! Pre-order your copy today, and get it in your hands early!