"'Lift off the roof / of your skull' writes Kate Angus in this confident, wonderful debut, and I do indeed feel my mind dangerously opened by the clarity and intimacy of these intelligent, warm, sad, funny, genuine poems. This poet takes us with her as she walks through the world, often alone, often filled with a happy despair, always hopeful, always thinking of distant others, including us, her readers. This book does not merely describe, but enacts a faith in life, and in poetry's necessity. This is the poetry for those of us who don't just want but need to 'always and silently unseal everything, ' to see what we can feel and know." -Matthew Zapruder, author of Sun Dog and Come on All You Ghosts "In poems such as 'String Theory, ' 'Complicity, ' and 'My Life in Retrospect, ' Kate Angus reveals not only a gift for smart titles but a lyrical, questioning intelligence that makes her work a pleasure to read and re-read. She has the ability to chronicle her conscious-ness as she navigates between dualities and among certain recurrent images and motifs. The 'body's not a chassis / inside which we ride, ' she writes in one poem, though on an-other occasion she may be tempted to ride that metaphor like a train conducting her 'from a deep forest / to a city closer to the surface layers / where the outside world tugs on my skin.' Poems, then, are occasions; the day itself is a train and every hour 'a compartment to sit in and read a book or walk through.' The poet monitors the relations between the some-times 'stupid' mind and the 'terrifying' body vulnerable beneath fancy clothes. God is the missing lover 'always giving us the bread of his body / and his sour wine-dark blood.' The world proves itself to be a terrible place, 'and still we cannot stay.' Each poem in this diverse group works on its own and as part of a sequence unified by this admirable poet's sensibility and fluency. I'm delighted to introduce Kate Angus to readers." -David Lehman, author of Yeshiva Boys and Sinatra's Century: One Hundred Notes on the Man and His World. Series Editor The Best American Poetry "Lately I've been reading a Kate Angus poem every morning, so I can start the day fall-ing in love with language. The poems in So Late to the Party look at love and lust, loneliness and longing, and treat us to a better understanding of the nuances of humanity. These poems will break your heart." -Shelly Oria, author of New York 1, Tel Aviv 0 "Oh, this book. Don't miss this beautiful book. Kate Angus's debut, So Late To The Party, is a deep dive into longing. Perhaps the speaker in 'Is The World A Terrible Place?' gives the best summary: 'Think of lovers.//They will not think of you.' With pitch-perfect rhythm, crackling language, and sly humor ('please do not ever leave me ' is a line from an ode to the American Heritage Dictionary), these poems make us contend with loneliness, heartache, and the devastating passage of time. This collection will grab you by the throat." -Diana Spechler, author of Who by Fire and Skinny