Cultural Studies (Carnegie Mellon Poetry Series)

From the back streets of Pittsburgh to the bars and byways of Puerto Rico, Cultural Studies explores the inner workings of a narrator at once resistant to the trappings of culture and embracing of its idiosyncrasies. Blending traditional forms with content in unexpected ways, these are poems that show a tough exterior as well as the vulnerability beneath the front, that feed off their apparent hypocrisy while casting it in the lead role. Ultimately, they are poems that build truths by amassing contradictions, whipping us along on engaging rhythmic journeys that often wind up—surprisingly—back where they began.