Catfish McDaris' engaging assemblage of gritty, sensual, working class characters thrive, or barely get by, in second-hand stores, down on the Bowery, and low rent establishment. They bring home whiskey, malt liquor and sausages in ancient autos that barely run. They often set their hopes on Lotto Games with the smoke and mirrors of life where luck is a "fickle bitch" at best. The prose is at once incisive, humorous and intimate. But it isalways serious -- always life at the ragged edges. Though various lusts run throughout the collection, what McDaris writes of human nature is funny and often sadly true at the deepest levels of ourselves. Blue Throat of Day is a generous offering, an expansive, engaging collection, written in McDaris' distinctive style, essential reading for those who love poetry and prose written eloquently from the gut." -- Jeffrey Alfier, Founder and Co-editor, Blue Horse Press and San Pedro River Review