A resonant new collection on love and persistence from the author of
The Big Smoke, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer
Prize
The poems in Adrian Matejka's newest and fifth collection, Somebody
Else Sold the World, meditate on the ways we exist in an uncontrollable
world: in love and its aftermaths, in families that divide themselves,
in protest-filled streets, in isolation as routines become obsolete
because of lockdown orders and curfews. Somebody Else uses past and
future touchstones like pop songs, love notes, and imaginary gossip to
illuminate those moments of splendor that persist even in exhaustion.
These poems show that there are many possibilities of brightness and
hope, even in the middle of pandemics and revolutions.