The poems in Kevin Pilkington’ s Walking on October explore life in urban environments. Each poem is lucid, filled with the music and grit of urban city streets. Collectively the poems are personal confrontations with the world and what it means to be human. The jazzy rhythms of traffic, the crowded city streets and rattling subways create a music that is as appealing now as it was for Gershwin. The speakers in these poems discover what it takes to survive through an ever-changing world. This is where old buildings “ disappear like newspapers” , waitresses in diners know your name as “ honey” and where not everything is rigged or lost. This collection shines through the darkness towards the light and the only way forward.