“This disciplining, demanding writing itself is enough to recommend David Gewanter’s new collection, as is its no uncertain pursuit of a politics that takes no prisoners. It’s common enough that poetry will use its wisdom to advance an agenda, but War Bird far surpasses that limited goal. The hard edge of its menacing wit, the severe tension of its layered lyricism, the implied magnitude of its statement combine to effect a moral force. This is poetry in a language that matters.”

Stanley Plumly

"The poems are funny, vicious, and swirling. Many are politically motivated, their ironic language lobbying for connections between strata of meanings. How do politics and history and culture sound in the subjective, as something spoken by the poet who cares about the texture of language, the privileged placement of sound and sense, above a layer of "meaning?" Gewanter’s history feels personal, a history he creates consciously in the present, as a preparation for the future."

Sean Enright | Tikkun

"Gewanter’s work is implicitly a respect for the past, all of ours, the grief is there, the truth not always pretty; it is solemnity belied by humor, always humor keeping us reading. . . . In this book the peaks of history are attacked from all angles, sometimes with dash, sometimes more vulnerably. Gewanter’s facets are eclectic and buoyant inventions. He concocts combinations that dare us to be happy so we will not be destroyed by his truth. This is when humor becomes craft. It lifts us up while slapping us down. David Gewanter is tortured by love for the world. His remorse for that same world summarizes his poems. He is Mick Jagger and Seamus Heaney in a style well achieved, original and true."

Grace Cavalieri | Monterrat Review