"Kristen Case and Alexandra Manglis have put together something beautiful and deep about how things go together in a place that sells, but no longer prides, itself on having figured out how things go together better than any other place, at any time. This anthology tells the truth and exposes that lie." -FRED MOTEN "[These essays] plumb the traditional American canon-and significant texts on its periphery-to contend with the questions of national ethos and identity that resound today. Editors Kristen Case and Alexandra Manglis suggest the ways poetry might be both agitator and balm in times of social crisis, as thirteen poets write about topics such as Poe and race, gun violence, and the Black pastoral." -Poets & Writers

"Displaying a sophisticated sense of poetics as well as a good grasp of history and its implications for the present moment . . . [the editors] have done a remarkable job of bringing together such a challenging collection." -Harvard Review