In the southeast Portland neighborhood of Matthew Dickman's youth,
parents are out of control and children are in chaos. Ghosts of longing,
shame, and vulnerability haunt these luminous, hypnotic poems as Dickman
confronts a childhood of ambient violence, well-intentioned but warped
family relations, and confining definitions of identity. Wonderland
reminds us that in neighborhoods filled with guns, skateboards, fights,
booze, and heroin, and home to punk rockers, skinheads, poor kids, and
single moms, we can also find innocence and love.