Still: Of the Earth as the Ark Which Does Not Move

For his third full-length collection, Cooperman mines the language of reportage to create a formally risky assemblage of personal and political. Structurally, sets of lithe, elegant poems are strung between mixed lists and factoids, which are sometimes hard to understand or contextualize within the book’s fabric. Many contain weird font play, likely to call attention to corporate branding. The strongest sections contain propulsive, logic-blending, untitled three-words-to-a-line poems that leave the reader wanting more, though they can get lost in the complexity of the titular series of litanies. The most playful elements in this book are the most successful, while the most focused and organized can feel inscrutable: the whole work never quite coheres and continually leaves the reader wondering, though this artful confusion may indeed be a big part of the point. (Mar.)