cover image THE BANDSAW RIOTS

THE BANDSAW RIOTS

Arlitia Jones, . . Bear Star, $12 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-9657177-7-9

"I see they're selling health insurance/for pets now, says the bookkeeper/ behind the counter, who, at age forty-eight/ and uninsured, could finally pay/ cash for her first mammogram." A butcher's daughter in "[w]hite coat, white apron, hair done up," as "the bride/ of the USDA," Jones offers hard-bitten looks at frost-bitten Anchorage, where her family's wholesale shop remains, and she continues to work full-time as a meatwrapper and bookkeeper, while teaching writing part-time. As "Shit Job" puts it, "The machine sucks/ and blows in and out/ like a yes-man courting money." And God? "[N]earsighted as a human infant." (Oct.)