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A Hotel In Belgium


"Lauer’s poems ripple like muscle, even as they circle around the notion that we may not possess tools strong enough to arrive at a singular definition of who and what we are….By laying bare superstitious patterns of mind that we routinely interpret as meaning, Lauer’s poems reveal the indeterminacy of what we’re able to know…without forgoing what beauty is to be found in the attempts we make to know it.” Publisher’s Weekly

"Brett Fletcher Lauer's A Hotel in Belgium is about estrangement and the distances created by our disparate experiences of the world ('the machinery in you malfunctions in me'). In these poems, mood and moons are viewed as if via telescope and operate according to stage directions ('a thousand gray stars prearranged / to shine so-so over the wonders of modern cities'). But just when you become accustomed to the sheen of these poems' surfaces, sinkholes of precisely rendered beauty and vulnerability appear. The result is surprising and unsettling in the best way." - Matthea Harvey

"As hemlines rise and fall, so do poetic fads and blockbuster meds, our homegrown strain of Symbolism and Deep Imagism having gone into hibernation (like God) along with the likes of Larry Levis, Mark Strand and Stephen Dobyns all amplifying a more plain-spoken spellbound tradition in lines and stanzas chiseled to last—this would be in keeping with the company BFL (Brett Fletcher Lauer) assiduously keeps..."  Coldfront

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Fake Missed Connections: Divorce, Online Dating, and Other Failures


Emotionally powerful writing . . . [that] suggests the pervasiveness of loneliness and longing and the desperation to connect. ” Kirkus

“The trauma of this book begins with a phone call that ends a marriage, but the marriage itself is truly an echo and emblem of past traumas, and Fake Missed Connections details the human struggles familiar to us all. As the author kept trying and failing to recover, to honestly rebuild some life that would make sense, many times I laughed out loud, then cringed at yet another blow, feeling such tender affection. He is honest and funny and hyperaware. But all this would mean nothing without the author’s extraordinary linguistic gift and craft. He is the calm, sweet, sharp, hilarious, tragic recording angel of our shameful, beautiful, almost but not quite hopelessly complicated digital age.” —Matthew Zapruder

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Please Excuse This Poem: 100 New Poets for the Next Generation
Brett Fletcher Lauer and Lynn Melnick, editors

A Horn Book "Top Ten Book for Summer”
One of CCBC’s “2016 Choices”
One of Split This Rock’s “2015 Poetry Books We Love”
A Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature “Best Children’s Book of the Year”
One of Teen Vogue’s “Best Poetry Books”

"Marvelous … Please Excuse This Poem comes billed as a book for younger readers; hence, its low price tag. This is part of the sneaky power of the collection, which recognizes that poems are for readers of all ages, that it is not age but intention, empathy, clarity that counts." David Ulin, LA Times

"Incisive and occasionally brash, the selected works by these poets on the rise showcase the challenges of 21st-century living for readers who are ready for them." Kirkus Reviews

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Isn’t It Romantic: 100 Loves Poems by Younger American Poets


”A fresh and much-needed collection ... the vernacular of these well-chosen love poems will appeal to sensibilities both punk and conservative. A marvelous anthology.”
Booklist

”The book is one of the most enjoyable and refreshing reads in recent memory, and the supplementary CD of indie-rock love songs is sure to become the soundtrack to 2005.” American Poet

”Filled with well-armed poets and wrapped in a pink cover, this anthology is the perfect Trojan Horse to infiltrate those twin citadels of predictable poetry: weddings and Valentine's Day. Unhampered by editorial insistence on what a "love poem" need be, these pieces are as funky and individual as our loves.” Robert Strong, Boston Review

Although the editors of the anthology, Brett Fletcher Lauer and Aimee Kelley, don't think their book is a direct response to the war in Iraq, they realize it cannot be taken out of the context of the current military situation. “It does seem obvious that during times of greatest turmoil people turn to poetry, seeking either an articulation of their despair or a kind of consolation,” Kelley says. “Perhaps the ultimate protest is to demonstrate possibilities for and expressions of love.” Kevin Larimer, Poets & Writers

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Bartlett's Words for the Wedding


“What to read at a wedding, your own or a friend's? What poetry—or poetic prose—will fit the particular couple tying the knot, describe their love clearly without undue sappiness and suit the guests, who may—or may not—read poems for pleasure at home? Brides, grooms, parents, officiants, groomsmen and bridesmaids confront these questions every day; this anthology, assembled by a husband-and-wife team of poets, scours the canon and its fringes for answers. Lauer and Kelley (Isn't It Romantic, 2004) include expectable nuptial greatest hits—sonnets by Shakespeare, Cummings and E.B. Browning, prose from Rilke and the Song of Songs—but much of their inventive, eclectic collection has the power to surprise: clear and charming contemporary verse from Pam Rehm, Lisa Jarnot and Timothy Donnelly, for example; translations from Chinese and Korean; and little-known Renaissance poems, including an absolute stunner from Michael Drayton….Lauer and Kelley have kept utility and accessibility in mind: they've produced a collection with pleasures for readers and obvious, practical use. Few anthologists can say as much.”  Publishers Weekly