OC Weekly January 14-20, 2000:

"Robert Roden has always been a little bit ahead of the masses. He was reading poetry at OC coffeehouses, bookstores and bars before there was an OC poetry scene and (along with cohort Barton Saunders) was gutsy enough to publish talented locals despite the promise of never making a profit. He has also always been willing to startle audiences with a bit of performance art in what would otherwise be fairly straightforward readings--such as one at Koo's Art Cafe where he read from within a metal cage.

"More recently, Roden left the hamster maze of the local circuit for the MFA in Poetry program at Cal State Long Beach. But unlike other MFA serfs, Roden has neither abandoned his soul nor forgotten his roots in the maze. You can still catch him at local readings--like the one this Friday where he'll release his new book, The Nebulizer, for Laguna Poets.

"And really, the only thing that has changed is that his poetry keeps getting better and better--a sonnet on garbage night and domestic abuse or the tension of a relationship reflected in a messy kitchen while comically alluding to Yeats. Roden remains one of OC's poetic treasures, blazing a path that others will inevitably follow. So, see you in school."

                                    --Victor D. Infante