In My Sideways Heart, with consummate poetic skill, Brown explores the nuances of human relationships, and he does so with a courage and emotional honesty rare in contemporary American poetry. Are the poems in this collection love poems ? Absolutely, but love poems skillfully absent the banal excesses of sentimentality. Brown writes with the confidence and directness of an experienced poet, and his seemingly simple diction belies the hard-earned wisdom stirring deep beneath the surface of his art. --Larry D. Thomas, 2008 Texas Poet Laureate"