A startling and hip collection of poetry from a dual American/Canadian
citizen who's already making waves on the literary scene.
Suzannah Showler's bracing, intense second collection is equal parts
cultural critique and phenomenological investigation. Building on the
enlightened skepticism of her much-praised debut, Thing Is puts the
hashtag age through some much-needed paces. Witty, cutting, heartbroken,
and cautiously hopeful, these poems are really about aboutness, about
what it means to be alive right now. They also nimbly advance the
longstanding poetic argument for the value of considered attention: What
follows from / what you know is / not the same thing / as knowledge.
Even / when you get it right.