John Sweet's lean and muscular poetry causes a lot of excitement, evident by his long publications list and a series of earnest and diverse chapbooks. Human Cathedrals is his first major collection and Ravenna Press' first book, what he describes as a tasty little full-length collection of angst and bile. It is better than that, with shades of melancholy mixed in with expressed vulnerability and the voice of a skilled poet who pulls no punches and obscures nothing. This book selects a range of John's strongest work and organizes it as an extended meditation-it is a great reading experience, immediately engaging and honest from page to page. Perfect-bound with a matte cover, it contains 80 pages of poetry in the consistent, unflinching Sweet voice.