Jes C. Kuhn's startling and striking debut volume of poetry, "Thigh Gap and the Vow of Poverty," is a kaleidoscopic balance of realism and the abstract, where poverty and capitalism are in constant battle, where issues such as suicide, adultery, widows, ghosts, fatherhood, domesticated technological absurdities, all shrouded in tarry humor and grave plot pondering, populate the pages in intoxicating, reflective chaos. He may draw potential stylistic connections to the sour grit of Bukowski or the hallucinatory bite of Lorca, but Kuhn writes in a raw and ultra-modern voice, redefining poetry line by pulsing line for the modern reader. Kuhn's words represent the true outlaw art, a spectral rainbow in a creative writing cemetery, placing a newly painted mask on the skeleton face of American poetry.