The Weeds

"The Weeds" is a book of deserts, exiles, friendships, loves, militaristic hallucinations, and weeds. The poems, prose pieces, and collaborations that make up the collection ask questions ("Is this the right world / for our worldless curiosity?"), observe the mirage-like relationship between humans and their changing environment ("sparrows pecking black spots of gum"), and repel fears ("Adjectives, if they still exist, will include skulking, nasty, portable, blasted, cunning.") A book of metamorphic lostness and visionary geography, Jared Stanley's new book gets way down in "those inhuman gists, the weeds."