"An edgy, heart-stopping book of poems. Michael V. Smith wakes you up to the world with all its aches and wonders. He's a smart, brave master of the breath and tongue, and in this, his first poetry collection, he struts and strides on poetry's high heels, giving us his own unique take on what language transforms into an extraordinary life."
            – Lorna Crozier

The poems in What You Can't Have challenge propriety and undo the trappings of shame. From the children who yearn for a knowledge and experience elusive to them, to the adolescents who struggle with hidden desires, to the adults unprepared for the world built around them, Michael V. Smith lends a quiet grace to his subjects' struggles to satisfy their needs.

Confessional, intimate, and willing to spare nothing to reveal the truth of our shared failings and small triumphs, Smith's poems unapologetically reveal a world full of tenderness, wit and compassion.