“Full of essential solitudes though simultaneously lit by 'a whore’s lightbulb against a star sky,' the poems in this, Modlin’s first, book are remarkable for their candor, for their wit, for their urge toward and into new moods and new modes. These poems, reminiscent of Beckian Fritz Goldberg and Norman Dubie, ask, 'touch me here,' and we do, and we emerge humored but also transformed. In prose and in verse, the poems here, much like the book’s title, have two names: holy and brilliant.” —Gary McDowell, author of Mysteries in a World That Thinks There Are None, co-editor of The Rose Metal Press Field Guide to Prose Poetry“Poignant, quirky, troubled, the poems in Everyone at This Party are reminiscent of James Tate, Bill Knott, and eternal Edward Lear. Rife with characters who stumble, speakers who suffer, and wisdoms that bristle with the darkest and lightest aspects of being alive, Modlin’s portraits are delightful, artful, and frightening collages of the fractured individual who must daily relearn the lessons of love and grief. To read this book is to recoil with recognition, and then to shoot forward with the courage it provides via humor and the unexpected warmth of shared plight.” —Larissa Szporluk, author of Traffic with Macbeth