Toxicon and Arachne

The psychologically rich latest from McSweeney (The Commandrine and Other Poems) is haunted by an excruciating event that is alluded to throughout but only briefly described. With references to a toxifying Earth filled with weapons of war, drones, and digital overstimulation, McSweeney presents the loss of a child to a public facing the end of the world. In doing so, the internal and the external calamities echo each other, allowing a plethora of lyric forms (short and long poems, sonnets, villanelles) to cast mourning rites for her child, for the planet, and for life itself: “a plastic jug rides a current with something like the determination/ that creases mine own brow/ as I attempt to burn my lunch off/ the determination of garbage/ riding for its drain/ hey-nonny it’s spring/ and everything wears a crown/ as it rides its thick doom to its noplace.” Formally brilliant, emotionally heartbreaking, and considerably terrifying, this is a stunning work from one of poetry’s most versatile experimentalists. (Apr.)