Abstract
Alexandra Teague's fourth collection of poems deepens her ongoing inquiry into American optimism, disillusionment, and violence.
In poems that bring together traditional American patriotic songs and current American horrors—and in which Yeats' famous apocalyptic figure of the Rough Beast takes a painting class, wears a spacesuit, and listens to public service announcements—[ominous music intensifying] takes on the too-muchness of contemporary, apocalypse-prone America with humor, conscience, and the occasional fiddle duel. In this fourth book of poetry, Alexandra Teague expands her subject matter to include chronic pain, generational poverty, and what it means to stay safe—physically and psychologically. Her new poems are reckonings with sexism and dental trauma, Mitch McConnell and UFOs, torture devices and sad clown paintings—and with some of the most urgent crises of our time: gun violence, pandemics, and climate change.