“Major’s Modernity is a book so superb that it will stand alongside William Carlos Williams’ Pictures from Brueghel and Robert Hayden’s A Ballad of Remembrance. Its greatness derives from everyday observation, which Major renders with high-res vivacity. At once unsentimental and brimming with heart, poems such as ‘Happiness,’ ‘Getting It,’ ‘Barbershop,’ and ‘The Rainbow’ will be with us as long as we have poems. ‘Hope struggles along,’ Major writes, and with Modernity he proves the struggle beautiful and true.”

Peter Campion, author of "One Summer Evening at the Falls"

"W.H. Auden boldly asserted that the beauty of any present moment or place must, inevitably, ‘disturb our rights.’ And so it is altogether fitting that the beauty of these poems gathered under the title of Modernity should disturb our rights to the very notion of here and now. With gracious tenderness and tact, Major details the lineaments of our human hours and the intricate network of memory, anticipation and intractable fact that makes of each hour something nearly sacred. Here is a masterwork of challenge and reassurance."
 

Donald Revell, author of "Canandaigua"

"In this marvelous new collection, Major is always moving outward, reaching with his compassionate, penetrating gaze to pick out details that reveal the crucial though delicate human truths that animate his subjects. There’s a tremendous generosity to his approach that feels rooted in a love of and respect for the world in all its vibrancy. On every page, we’re aware that we are in the hands of a great poet and a great heart."

Cole Swensen, author of "Art in Time"