A record of daily bewilderments and accidental concessions to hope after a momentous loss, featuring John Waters, Divine, and Mad King Ludwig II of Bavaria (the 'Swan King'), in this powerful follow-up to Joyelle McSweeney's award-winning collection Toxicon & Arachne

I want that green possibility
the gravidity of late style
pregnant with self-possession
to spring me to the end of the plot
Meanwhile I dream of Iphigenia
and how many times that teen can drop
in her altar top
When my teens are doing nothing
they are doing dance moves off TikTok
their brainwaves altering
like the ones with wands
who wave the planes down
and meanwhile I blow too much
dough on the baby's summer
clothes. Oh
well, if he wears it just once*
(*in the grave), then it's worth it.
I say the secret thought
in my brain like a spark
It lays down and snuffs
in the mossbane of the earbone.
It dies a crib death.
Bring me my toy stethoscope. No,
I can detect nothing. Two beer cans
on a cord? No. Radio silence.

--from '5.6.21 terminator 2, late style'