King of Pain

In her debut collection, Kanownik levies directives and ultimatums through lyric poems that are both darkly humorous and unabashedly vulnerable. She earns her readers' trust through her hyperactive self-awareness as well as blunt admissions of struggle and, sometimes, defeat: "my dearest friends/ are the ones who make me realize/ that I am afraid." Overwhelmed by the realization that all ugly things contain beauty, Kanownik allows the lyric to exhaust itself, asking readers to remain vigilant with her as she provides laughter in the darkness ("come on// I'll buy you a cheeseburger"). She also recognizes that there is a price to keeping one's mind and eyes so open: "I knew that someone would/ throw themselves out a window eventually/ but while I watched?" Tonally, the book rarely shifts register, yet the poet's voice is so fluid that it gives the impression that these were not dutifully crafted poems, but ones dictated out of thin air. This is the book's most satisfying aspect: that the lyric feels intimate and conversational without losing rhythm or momentum. Electric with breath and blood, Kanownik's poems remind readers that yes, disaster looms, but one must still contend with the self: "living this long// it is a project." (Feb.)