Disease of Kings: Poems

The gritty, evocative second outing from Carlson-Wee (The Low Passions) explores in narrative poems the dynamics of a friendship between two “scammers”—individuals who make money in unconventional and questionable ways. The book interrogates the concept, culture, and implications of work, as in “Ambition”: “To suffer none of it./ Money, work, or obligation.// To face the days free/ of roles. No title. No position.” Like many poems in the collection, “Call and Response” takes an unflinching and melancholic inventory of present realities: “I’ve had this conversation/ before: one by one my old friends found/ dead, or faded on pills in Fargo,/ or inpatient and slowly going. It’s become/ who’s next and how long do we have?” The five-page poem “B&B” skillfully weaves a long tale of running a makeshift bed and breakfast, dumpster diving, climate change, familial love, and longing: “On her final day in the pulpit/ I took the 17 to see my mom preach./ After the service, members/ of the congregation kept touching/ my shoulder—I’d been dragged/ to enough funerals to recognize/ the gesture.” These affecting poems offer hard-earned insights about shame, loss, and hope. (Oct.)