THE BLACK AUTOMATION

“Douglas Kearney’s innovative new collection makes me tremble like a ‘mouth and mind full of fish hooks.’ These poems literally vibrate with Kearney’s precocious intellect and passion. They hum, they bang, they bite. What else can I say? I have never encountered poetry like this before.” - Terrance Hayes

From ambivalent animals thriving after Katrina to party chants echoing in a burning city, The Black Automaton troubles rubble, cobbling a kind of life. In this collection, bodies at risk seek renewal through violence and fertility, history and myth, flesh and radios. This collection was selected by Catherine Wagner for the 2008 National Poetry Series.