How to Baptize a Child in Flint, Michigan

Carson (Poems in Which You Die) stares fixedly and compassionately at the economically precarious and socially unjust life of a family in Flint, Mich., in this poignant second collection. “City, city/ everywhere// & not a drop/ to drink,” she writes, introducing the collection’s concerns from the outset. Through taut lyric poems, Carson explores the history of injustices in Flint that have very often taken an undue toll on women: “it falls to girls/ to pass the/ warning.” She later continues: “Every day/ women split// themselves/ open// so that the future/ can begin again.” These unflinching poems catalog the smallest details, “another PBR,/ another paper plate,” “Mountain Dew/ & TV light,” and “Somebody’s empty / vape pen.” By grounding these poems in the everydayness of ordinary experience, Carson allows for moments of deep contemplation, “a deadbolt is still/ a kind of hope.” “When we were born, we were starlight: made to sparkle,” she asserts. Hope and a longing for justice coexist in these pages. The vast compassion on display in this impressive work makes it all the more haunting. (Nov.)