Book Review: Human Cargo: journeys among refugees

with fanfare and accolades or a disinterested assessment of his place in American literature, but instead with an anecdote about anonymity. ‘Not many places where I go’, Randall once said, ‘do they know I’m a poet – forget about knowing I’m a poet laureate . . . But I’m always aware of the title . . . I believe a poet can change things. He can change the way people look and feel about things. And that’s what I want to do in Detroit.’