Many of these themes would be welcome as longer instructional pieces, as the logic and art of what he has to tell us flow together in a plea for the right of actors, playwrights and poets to lift us out of the gutters to touch the stars. Although Garebian may be too humble to say, this is his Contre Saint-Beuve: his praise of all that is great in theatre and poetry, and his excoriation of all that is false. His love for the two has never been more apparent.

In Mini Musings poet, scholar, and arts journalist Keith Garebian gives his readers a thought-provoking celebration-cum-critique of various lives lived in and among the arts, drenched in the controversial, the poetic, and the rigorously researched. One may not agree with, or even easily digest all of what the author muses upon so alertly, and yet, extremely well-informed prose, coupled with cocky poetic acumen, infuses Mini Musings with a panoply of ideas and emotions “inflamed by some inner mischief … caught in its own pantomime … playing charades on themes of timorousness, anxiety, and narcissism”—all crafted to great effect in these immensely entertaining miniatures

The 73 short pieces offered as Mini Musings provide maxi insights into the life and mind of both the author and the world of theatre and poetry. Keith Garebian leaves no stone unturned: from acting on stage and writing for it to probing the drama of Shakespeare and Albee, from theory and practice in poetry to public readings and cultural appropriation⎯everything in and about these literary arts is examined under the powerful microscope of Garebian’s gaze. Mini Musings has a richness that belies its title. The mix of observations, anecdotes and reflections presented in terse, witty prose, is consistently entertaining, informative and often deliberately provocative. What Garebian is giving us here is a kaleidoscope of the literary arts, a delightful and challenging must-read for anyone with any connection or commitment to theatre and poetry in our time.