Poet's Choice
By Robert Pinsky
Sunday, October 22, 2006; Page BW12
Liam Rector's new book, The Executive Director of the Fallen World , expresses a stringent yet generous tone toward the profane, ignoble world of his title. Without necessarily forgiving himself or the rest of greedy and needy humanity, Rector chooses instead a dry, somewhat charitable acknowledgment that the world is . . . worldly:
TWENTY-THREE
When he was 23 and beautiful
He liked to hang around
With other beautiful people.
He liked to get intoxicated with them,
Have sex with them, make money
With them. Among them,
He found, one did not have to strain.
Other people
Wanted to hang around with them
And came bearing gifts,
A little something. (These
