Each One a Furnace

Praise for Tolu Oloruntoba’s debut collection, The Junta of Happenstance:

• “Tolu Oloruntoba’s The Junta of Happenstance left me dazzled to the point of squinting. In every poem, some piece of gorgeous, quotable language glittered in my eye: ‘Wake up. It’s the crescendo. / Here comes your / redaction from the world.’ The collection is neither burdened, victimized, nor apologetic about race. It does not put on race as a pair of glasses. Race is more like an eyeball. One gets the sense that Oloruntoba is the alluring stranger, scribbling into a steno, ‘submerged into words on the bus,’ seemingly absorbed in his world but really taking note of us.” —Ian Williams, author of Reproduction

Praise for Tolu Oloruntoba’s debut collection, The Junta of Happenstance:

• “Tolu Oloruntoba’s The Junta of Happenstance left me dazzled to the point of squinting. In every poem, some piece of gorgeous, quotable language glittered in my eye: ‘Wake up. It’s the crescendo. / Here comes your / redaction from the world.’ The collection is neither burdened, victimized, nor apologetic about race. It does not put on race as a pair of glasses. Race is more like an eyeball. One gets the sense that Oloruntoba is the alluring stranger, scribbling into a steno, ‘submerged into words on the bus,’ seemingly absorbed in his world but really taking note of us.” —Ian Williams, author of Reproduction