Spleen de Poughkeepsie

Winner of the 2010 Akron Poetry Prize, Le Spleen de Poughkeepsie is "e;a tender anti-epic, a grunge-tinged love song to America's benighted post-industrial heartland."e; Harmon's Poughkeepsie shimmers just beyond the borders of banal recognition. "e;If you're not part of the problem, / you're part of the lengthening / tragedy,"e; Harmon writes in an introductory pastoral, seeking out "e;the stray / detours and workarounds of the secret / city inside the more obvious one... on the outskirts of the absurd / attention to the material life."e; Poughkeepsie is that city of the heart where no one can look at anyone else "e;alone,"e; where "e;the noise of beauty"e; is a cop's bullet polishing off a "e;traffic-struck doe,"e; where "e;five dollars takes you anywhere in this town / except out of it."e;