They Don’t Kill You Because They’re Hungry, They Kill You Because They’re Full

Mark Bibbins

From his sardonic title onward, Mark Bibbins challenges readers with formally innovative and socially alert poems that lay bare the inherent discombobulation of social and individual existence. “If you’re going to carry your gorgeous head around / in a sack,” one poem advises, “let it be / this beige plastic one.” Voices from Pat Robertson to Medusa to Andy Warhol are involved, along with a scathing sense of humor, unmistakable sexuality, and explorations of gender identity. Roving across the weird human landscape, they counter dread with wit, chaos with clarity (and sometimes more chaos), reminding us that the suffering contained in any historical moment is “small // compared to what.”

status	Copy #1 (7535): in
genre	Literature and Fiction » Poetry
publisher	Copper Canyon Press
publish date	2014
popularity	checked out 0 time(s)