Even through the clamor of war, garbage trucks, stolen cars, and crying babies, Rohrer maintains an alluring tranquility, a Taoist chill to temper a casualness that might otherwise get flagged as too hip. Li Po and Rumi drink jugs of wine, "Wu Wei presides calmly over the lovely closing poem that takes his name, and clouds drift from one poem to the next.
–Michael Brodeur, The Boston Globe
Rohrer's frequently beautiful, brief poems are rooted in specific images that initially seem unrelated–but which ultimately form a unity as meditations on how the ordinary distractions of everyday life can be seen as the source for almost everything important in life.
–Ken Tucker, Entertainment Weekly
Rohrer writes poems that crackle and sputter, often branching toward new meaning and emotion within the span of a single line.
–Publishers Weekly
Over the past year, I found Elisa Gabbert, Sarah Manguso and Matthew Rohrer to have made some life-changing books of poetry–especially Rohrer's book The Others, which goes from one vision to the next in a breathtaking way.
–Andrew Sean Greer, PBS NewsHour
